Crystal
by bloodymary2
Summary: Fate doesn't like it, when pesky humans try to interfere with its plans. CLOIS. Post-Wrath (Season 7)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Superman, Smallvile and all other incarnations of this wonderful hero are not my property. I write using them because it is a yearning, not to profit. Don't sue.

**A/C:** Long fic, I have almost finished. Having problems only with the ending, but that is to be expected. Will post every couple of days, hopefully. If you catch any mistakes, they are mine and I'd appreciate a warning. Thanks!

Post-Wrath; Lois and Grant with tension, no kiss at the end; Chloe and Jimmy still separated; Lana and Clark at odds (because of her use of his powers).

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**_CRYSTAL_**

by Bloodymary2

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"Oh, my God..." Chloe's green eyes widened and her mouth literally dropped open at the sight before her. Not only was it completely unexpected, it was… unbelievable! She chanced a look down at the strange crystal in her hands, which was glowing red and blue, then returned her gaze up. "Uh… Lois?"

The woman before her, a darker haired version of her cousin Lois, didn't acknowledge her question, or her presence. She seemed incredibly real, but Chloe could see that the she wasn't one hundred percent solid. Like a projection. Chloe glanced at the crystal once more, her eyebrows arching downwards in confusion.

_Could it be?_

"Lois?" She tried again, louder this time. Still, the woman didn't answer. She was wearing only a light blue men's shirt that reached past her mid thighs and thick black rimmed glasses. Chloe could see her worrying her lower lip as she stood reading a newspaper. Fascinated at this vision of her cousin, Chloe stepped forward and tried touching her shoulder; her hand went right through.

It was Chloe's turn to bite her lip.

Was the crystal projecting her thoughts, perhaps? She hadn't really been thinking about Lois when handling the rock, but maybe on a subconscious level. Intrigued by her own theory, Chloe concentrated on Jimmy, willing his image to appear; nothing. She tried again, a different person this time. Still no change; Lois continued her perusal of the paper – the Daily Planet, Chloe noticed.

Shooting at a different approach, she traced her fingers up and down the length of the crystal. Besides feeling a bit silly for caressing what looked basically like a phallic ornament, Chloe also felt frustrated at the unchanging image of her cousin. Or someone who looked like her, anyway. The woman's hair was a dark chocolate color Lois hadn't worn in years and she wore glasses she wouldn't have normally been caught in.

"What is this supposed to mean?" Chloe heard herself pondering.

As if in answer, the Lois look-a-like finally moved, her lips parting into a wide smile. She looked sincerely happy. Her smile soon faded into a smirk – a very familiar, superior smirk Chloe knew too well – and the woman finally spoke.

"Nice writing, honey! But _cataclysm_? Really?" She sounded mocking and too much like the woman who sat next to her at the Planet every day for Chloe to hold onto any doubts regarding her identity. Which only made her even more puzzled.

_What was she seeing?_

As swiftly as the image had appeared, it faded into nothingness, as did the colors lighting up the crystal Chloe still held. Possibilities and explanations ran rampant through Chloe's mind, as she glanced around the loft in Clark's barn. She wasn't completely sure how much time she lost in contemplation, before heavy footsteps echoed from the wooden stairs.

"Chloe?" Clark Kent dark hair and red clad chest soon came into view.

"Hey, Clark." Chloe studied her friend's troubled face, postponing any mention of the crystal she held and its still unknown origins. "You okay?"

His first response was to sigh – a long suffering sigh -, which Chloe immediately took to mean he was far from being _okay_. "Lana?" She chanced a guess. It was always about Lana, after all.

He nodded. "Yeah." He buried his hands deep into his pockets and fixed his gaze down. "I just… I can't forget what she almost did to Lex when she had my powers. I know humans tend to go a little crazy when kryptonite is involved, but… The things she said."

Chloe slipped her sympathetic face on and refrained from rolling her eyes. Lois was right; when Lana was involved, Clark was reduced to a bumbling idiot. And not in that good, he's-so-in-love-it's-cute way. She had hoped that now that they were finally together, these conversations would be left in the past. Sigh, no such luck, though.

" Have you talked to her about it?"

"I tried!" He shrugs, looking to all the world like a lost little boy. "But she just dodges the conversation."

Sure this particular talk would lead them absolutely no where, Chloe decided to change the subject. "Well, we may have other things to worry about." She raised her hand, displaying the now clear crystal. "It was left on my desk at the Planet. It looks a lot like the crystals from the Fortress, so I brought it here as soon as I could."

Clark accepted the crystal. "I touched it before, but it wasn't until I got here that it started to glow red and blue. And…" She stepped forward, gesticulating with her hands. "… this image appeared, like it was being projected by the crystal."

"What image?" He was frowning, eyes still fixed on the surface of the mysterious rock.

"Of Lois. With dark hair and glasses. She was reading the Planet and then she talked to someone, before the image disappeared." At her cousin's name, Clark's eyes flew towards her, a dumbfounded look replacing the confusion.

"Lois?"

"Yeah. I tried to talk to her and then I tried touching her shoulder, but it was like a movie. No interaction."

"What do you think it mea…?" His question was cut off when the crystal hummed against his skin and projected another image. Chloe's head snapped to the right. If she was surprised by the first, slightly altered projection of her cousin, she was floored at the sight of a Clark look-a-like.

"Wow." Her lips curved upwards, her eyes glowing. _Wow_, indeed.

Before them stood a tall man with Clark's features, who looked nothing like Clark. His face, his posture, his costume. He gave off this impression of being powerful and untouchable and larger than life. It was impossible not to stare.

"Is that a cape?" Clark questioned distastefully.

"Oh, yeah." Chloe was still sporting a smitten look, making the normally shy farmboy feel even more self-conscious than he already was.

"How do you turn this off?" His question was met by a smirk and a shrug of shoulders. His attempts met similar results. Not that the crystal shrugged, of course.

"Clark?" Lana's voice sounding from downstairs served to somber the atmosphere. Chloe shared a fleeting look with her best friend. They couldn't hide the crystal even if they wanted to.

"I'm with Chloe." A few moments later, Lana appeared at the top of the staircase. She purposely avoided meeting Chloe's gaze, their relationship still strained from their last conversation at the Isis Foundation. It took her less than a second, though, to focus on the projected image.

"What is that?" She reacted just like Chloe had, amazed.

"Huh…" Clark shuffled his feet, years of lying and misdirection, a hard habit to break. "Chloe found this crystal and it seems to project images. We don't know what they mean, though."

Lana nodded. "You know, you do look older there. You look…" Chloe agreed and the long haired brunette turned away from the image to gaze at the two friends, relieved the subject didn't involve her directly. "What else did you guys see?"

"Lois." Lana was surprised.

"Lois?" Two nods.

"Yeah, except. Like Clark, she didn't really look like Lois. But now that you mentioned it, I guess it could have been an older version of her." Chloe contemplated, perusing the glowing gem with her eyes.

The image of Clark, arms crossed and red cape billowing in the wind as he hovered a little less than a foot off the ground, faded away as the first image had done before.

"Do you think, maybe, this shows the future?" Chloe was excited at the prospect.

"I guess it's possible." Lana answered, seeming to agree with her friend's eagerness. "Can you control it, Clark?"

The kryptonian, for his part, shook his head. "Even if I could control it, messing with time is very dangerous. I should hide this."

"Wait!" Lana called out. "It's not messing with time, right? They're just glimpses." She argued, hopeful.

Clark wasn't budging, though.

"No. Knowing the smallest of details from the future may be dangerous. We might change things without even realizing. And that's not a good thing." He sounded so final, his voice filled with such firm resolve, that Chloe couldn't help but be awed. Sometimes she caught glimpses of the man her best friend was growing up to become and she had no doubt he could one day be exactly like the man with the cape the crystal had shown them.

"I agree with Clark. Besides, we shouldn't mess with it, if we don't know what it is."

Lana frowned, clearly disagreeing. She refrained from saying anything else, though. She loved Clark, she truly did, but there were times when his tendency to see the world through black and white lenses drove her mad. She also didn't want to instigate another fight between them, especially after the Lex debacle.

The silence that followed seemed to trigger the crystal to manifest itself once more.

This time, it was a woman who looked like Chloe. Her hair was a little bit shorter than she wore now and her face, though far from being wrinkled, seemed so much older. She sat in front of a computer, the glow from the screen reflecting against the tears running down her cheeks. She kept staring at the screen, whispering to herself.

_Where are you, Lo? Where are you?_

The desperation in the woman's broken voice made Chloe flinch. Clark came closer to his friend and placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort. He too was worried about the way she looked in the projection and the words she spoke. Something to do with Lois. Lana continued gazing at the image, feeling sympathy for her friend's grief.

The older looking Chloe shifted, eyes falling onto a picture frame. Her finger caressed the photograph within, more tears marring her reddened cheeks. Lana circled the image, trying to see who it was, but it faded away before she managed to do so.

Surreptitiously, Chloe tried to wipe a tear which had escaped her glistening eyes; Clark simply pretended not to see it, determined now more than ever to put the crystal away.

"I'm going to take it to the Fortress. Maybe Jor-El can…" Proving to be uncontrollable, though semi-predictable, the crystal shone again, a new projection following soon thereafter. This time, it was of Clark, wearing a deep blue, soiled dress shirt and carrying a red-headed in his arms. The woman was looking at him with adoring eyes and was as disheveled as her savior.

"Who is that?" Asked Lana, eyes narrowing.

"I don't know." Clark answered. He had saved people whose name he would never learn. Him, carrying a woman, didn't have to mean anything.

"Huh", huffed his girlfriend. Chloe abstained from any comment. The smirk she was trying to hide, though, showed she was highly amused.

The image disappeared faster than the others had, being replaced quickly by another. This one showed several people, all dressed in different, yet colorful costumes. Clark recognized some, like Oliver and Bart, but others, he had never seen before. They all stood facing the same direction, somber faces and teary eyed.

_Do you think she's coming?_, asked a black clad man; his costume strongly resembling a bat. Oliver, who wore his Green Arrow costume with the hood up, shook his head. _No. I doubt she even knows what day it is. _And like that they remained, attention fixed on something neither of the friends could see.

"Are they at a funeral?" Wondered Chloe out loud.

The image faded, leaving in its wake more questions than answers.

"The images are all of people we know. At least one of them. Maybe the crystal reacts to us, somehow. We just have to figure out how." Lana suggested.

"No. We won't mess with it." Determined not to allow another image to appear, Clark tightened his grip on the crystal and sped away.

Chloe watched him go, filled with understanding. Lana bit her lip and gazed at the spot he had been a second before, frustrated at the way he would disappear without warning. The blonde woman felt the tension in the space between them increase now that Clark wasn't there to run interference.

"So… How have you been, Lana?"

Shrug. "Okay. You?"

Nod. "Me, too. Lois is driving me crazy, now that she's working at the Planet, of course, but I'm… okay, too." The word seemed so simple to explain everything that was going on in her life. It also sounded so generic, a word you used to exchange meaningless pleasantry with near strangers.

_Is this what their friendship had come to?_

xxxxx

Clark sped all the way to the Arctic, not bothering to use the portal in the caves. His speed only diminished when he stood before the main console at his Fortress of Solitude.

"Jor-El!"

"Kal-El, my son."

"This crystal…" He held it up, as if Jor-El was a physical being that had eyes to see it. In a way, though, maybe he could see it. "It projects images; images I think may be from the future." He looked one way, then the other, still not completely sure where to look when his father was nothing more than a booming voice all around him. "Do you know what it is?"

"The crystal is kryptonian, my son, but it is not for you."

"It activates on its own, Jor-El. Can I control it?"

"It is the future and the present and the past. It shows and changes and fixes what has been altered. It is not yours to have, Kal-El, or yours to control."

"But you said time can't be changed without great consequences! My father died because I went back in time to save Lana!" Clark asked, confused at Jor-El cryptic words.

"You can take different paths, Kal-El, but destiny must not be tampered with." The disembodied voice answered.

"What does that mean? What do I do with it?" He yelled. "I cannot leave it for someone else to find! It could be dangerous!"

"If it feels needed, my son, the crystal will find the one meant to hold it. It is not your decision."

"That's not an answer, Jor-El." The Fortress dimmed, as if the artificial intelligence that was Jor-El simply decided to go into sleep mode, dismissing him. "Jor-El!" None of his attempts to revive it seemed to work.

Certain only that he was not meant to have the crystal and that leaving it on the farm might not be such a good idea, considering its bad habit of projecting images at random, Clark placed the stone on an ice pedestal near the console. What could be safer than an ice palace in the middle of the North Pole, after all.

Sparing the crystal and the Fortress one last glance, he sped away.

It didn't feel over, though.

Far from it.

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Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**_Crystal_, **by bloodymary2

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**CHAPTER 2:**

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Lois Lane snuggled against the fluffy pillow she was hugging to herself, not completely awake yet. Something had pulled her from the land of slumber, but she couldn't quite remember what. And, considering how comfortable she was feeling, that mystery was going to remain just that. She breathed in deeply and was almost asleep when a sound startled her completely awake.

_So much for blessed sleep._

With eyes only half open, she patted the nightstand to her right, until her hand hit the alarm clock she had conveniently turned to face the other direction before going to bed. The red numbers glowed in the darkness and announced the time to be too ungodly for strangers to be knocking on her door.

_Sigh._

She was dragging her tired body off the bed to check on the most unwelcome visitor, but it seemed Chloe beat her to it; she heard her cousin's voice talking to someone she couldn't identify. Not even her natural curiosity would make her care at this time, though. Lois allowed herself to fall backwards and resumed her snuggling with the pillow. She was asleep moments after.

xxxxxxxxxx

"I'm sorry, Chloe, I just… I didn't know where else to go to on such short notice." Lana had her arms wrapped around her slender frame and stood, hunched, by the door to the apartment above the Talon, a place she had once called home. Tear tracks on her cheeks were witnesses to the crying she had indulged in on the short drive over.

Chloe closed the door behind them and pulled Lana by the elbow towards the couch. For a long stretch of time, they remained in uncomfortable silence, occasionally meeting each other's gaze. The blond reporter wanted to ask, really, she did. But there was something about the lost look in Lana's soulful eyes that made her scared to voice the question. And Lana, well... She couldn't even pinpoint the exact emotion, much less put it into words. How can you explain to a person who had the dream job, loyal friends, a devoted cousin and a loving father that you felt alone? That there wasn't really anywhere in this world you could feel like you belonged to?

_Nowhere. _

Not even at the farm, with Clark. She didn't quite fit in, no matter how much she had tried to. No matter how many times she denied the darkness creeping in around the corners. It was there, reminding her of how very much alone she truly was.

Lana sighed deeply and finally met Chloe's inquisitive gaze.

"We talked… no. Actually, we argued. We're always arguing." Her voice cracked at the end; she cleared her throat. "I… Uhn. I feel like he doesn't love me anymore. Not this Lana. You know, the one who grew up, who changed, who made a mistake and married Lex Luthor." Slowly, her head shook, while her shoulders rose and then fell in resignation.

"C'mon, Lana. Clark loves you. He did when he was five. He continued loving you when you were with Whitney and barely talked to him. He loved you when you were with Lex. And he loves you now." Chloe pulled one of her friend's hand towards her and held her cold fingers between hers. A gesture of comfort. A sign of friendship.  
Lana only shook her head harder.

She couldn't fool herself into believing that. Not when the man she loved looked at her and didn't really see who she was.

"No, he doesn't, Chlo. I think even he is starting to realize that." A sob escaped unchecked. "And it's not just him. I love him, I do. But I don't know if I can be with someone who sees the world in black and white. I'm not…" The lump in her throat wouldn't budge and Lana had to swallow several times before being able to speak. "I'm not perfect, Chloe. Who could live up to that?"

And the whispered sob turned into sobbing and a single tear opened the way to the floodgates, as Lana finally let go.

xxxxxxxxxxx

For the second time that night, Lois woke up; something she couldn't quite place demanding her attention. Against her pillow, she muttered some words most people would blush just thinking about. Groggily, and with some of her frustration released, she raised her head and focused her hearing. And at once, the last traces of sleep faded, leaving her alert.

Someone was crying.

Lois was up in a second and with footsteps muffled by her bunny slippers, she went to investigate the source. It wasn't hard to find it. There, on the couch, Lana was crying in Chloe's arms. Feeling like an intruder, Lois stepped into the stream of light coming from the window and waited for her cousin to meet her gaze. Soon thereafter, as if sensing her there, Chloe looked up with apologizing eyes.  
"Is she okay?" Lois asked, her question almost soundless, knowing her cousin would be able to read her lips. Chloe offered a little shrug.

_I don't know._

The older cousin nodded in understanding and went back to her room. There was nothing she could do and Lana probably wouldn't appreciate her there. As Lois sat in the dark, Lana's muffled crying still reaching her ears, she couldn't help her thoughts from wandering to Clark. He was probably in his loft, looking out the window towards that line where the sky met the cornfield and moping. He was naturally a brooder; Lois had seen that from the very beginning. Lately, though…

_When was the last time she had seen him smile? Truly smile?_

Lois couldn't remember.

She couldn't comprehend how two people could keep insisting on a relationship that brought them little more than grief. She was certainly no expert, but wasn't love supposed to be about fire and comfort. About knowing there was someone out there who loved you for all your many faults, who saw the world the same way you did. Someone who brought you moments of happiness. Someone who would support you always, no matter the circumstances?

She didn't see that in them.

Then again, the intrepid reporter had never known that kind of love. Maybe it was nothing more than a fantasy on her part. And, even if it wasn't… Well, Lois didn't believe it existed for her. Unworthy, she had always felt.

_Undeserving._

Mind troubled by such thoughts, Lois fell into a troubled sleep, dreams plaguing her rest and making her frown. She was soon awake again. Lana and Clark had probably fought. Maybe they even broke up again. Perhaps, for the last time. And, no matter how sad that made them both, it might not be such a bad thing in the long run. Yes, the world was changing, as it had a tendency of doing. People were changing, moving on, growing up. It was natural and expected. She, herself, had changed so much since coming to Smallville.  
Why, then, did she feel such foreboding lingering in the air?

Lois trembled, hugging herself and burrowing deeper into the comforter.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fingers danced over the dark keyboard, not pausing to correct mistakes or misspells. The white page of the word processor filled with words quickly, lots of red squiggly lines making an appearance beneath this word and that one. It didn't matter. Not that Lois was good at spelling under normal circumstances, anyway; that's what spell checkers and cousins were for. When the piece was typed, she ran the program, allowing it to make corrections as it saw fit, then sent the drafted copy to her editor, Gabriel Grant.

Normally, she would have printed it and gone to see him personally. She liked defending her piece. Lately, though, the tension between them had grown to such levels that she had chosen to simply avoid him whenever possible. He was attractive, of course, and she felt the tension, too. But… She was just so tired of jumping head first and investing in these relationships that were doomed from the start.

_Nothing but mild physical attraction that would fade when the initial thrill was gone..._

And he was her boss, no less!

She sighed and turned her attention to her cousin Chloe, who was also not having any luck in the love department. Jimmy and her avoided each other like the plague these days, though Lois had caught wandering gazes filled with longing from both parties. Chloe was hard at work and she watched as her cousin typed way faster than Lois would ever be able to.

"Hey, Chloe. Wanna grab some lunch in a few?"

Her cousin glanced up and offered a small smile. "Uh… sure." Her attitude towards Lois' ingression into the world of journalism had improved since those first hostile barbs. And she was truly glad for that. Unfortunately, she still felt the disapproval and air of superiority Chloe wore around her most of the time. It stung, surely, but went mostly ignored.

There was very little Lois wouldn't forgive from her loved ones.

The tall woman came out of her own musings to find Chloe looking intensively at a pile of folders, on top of which a strange paperweight lay. "Chlo?"

"Uh, you know what? I'll have to take a raincheck on that one, Lo. Something just came up." Her eyebrow shot up, disbelief written clearly on her strong features. Still, she said nothing, recognizing Chloe's diversion tactics as the first step in the Kent-Sullivan secret society thing. Those two closed ranks around each other faster than some of the best trained soldiers, though they certainly could use a little help in the lying department.

_What was so important anyway?_

Her curiosity flared and then was immediately squashed it down. Lois shook her head and chastened herself. There would be no poking into their private business. There was no reason to find Chloe grabbing the paperweight like it was the holy grail strange, anyway. She would not investigate their mysterious disappearing acts or follow them to uncover the mysterious hobbies of a farmboy and a cub reporter. There was no conspiracy and no truths to uncover. And even if there was, she would never pressure them into sharing.  
No matter how much curiosity tempted her to do otherwise. And it had surely tempted her from time to time.

"Stop it, Lo. You don't care." She whispered to herself.

"Talking to yourself, Lane?" Lois nearly jumped out of her seat at Grant's smug voice sounding from her right. Covering for her surprise, she presented a reply.

"One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least somebody's listening…"

Grant laughed. "Very good and a really handy quote." He gestured to the paper he held in his hand. "Let's step into my office. We need to discuss this mob article you want to publish."

All her discomfort left her as her indignation grew. "Want? I don't want anything! The public's the one who wants to know the truth about where their hard earned money goes to!" She mumbled a few choice words and then muttered complains to herself. "Public officials laundering money and stashing it on their underwear."

Her boss heard her, though, and laughed again, seeming to be quite amused by her temper. He failed to notice the odd glances he was receiving from the other reporters in the bullpen; sharp minds that didn't miss much. Lois remained oblivious, too.

In fact, her attention was far away from Grant's charming self and their tension filled repartee. Well, maybe not that far, since her eyes were frozen, transfixed, on the paperweight she could have sworn Chloe had taken with her moments before. Could she have more than one lying around on her desk? Lois couldn't understand why such a small and seemingly insignificant piece of polished rock could hold her attention so powerfully. Her gaze remained unable to flicker away from the clear surface of the paperweight, the bullpen fading into the background.

It felt as if she was being called to it.

_Crazy, right?_

Impulsive by nature, Lois didn't pause to ponder the implication of that particular feeling. She reached for it, finding it to be just within the reach of her extended arm. When her fingertips brushed against the surprisingly cold surface, she felt a jolt of pure electricity. Fascinated, Lois observed the object, waiting for it to change, to do something or to simply react in some way now that she held it in her hands. She was unsure why she expected something to happen and was a bit disappointed when it didn't.

_Huff._

If she had any misgivings about her sanity before, this certainly made things clear; the stress had finally pushed her into the deep end. Expecting completely harmless stones to magically react to the touch of her hand was indubitably a sign of insanity. The fact that she pilfered the paperweight and stashed it into her purse didn't make her feel any saner.

Chloe came back to the bullpen some hours later, a worried frown permanently displayed. She didn't spare her cousin much attention and Lois found herself failing to mention the stone. Attempts on her part to convince her conscience that it was just some meaningless paperweight nobody would miss fell short. Still, the guilt wasn't enough to force her to confess her transgression.

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Review... and don't worry. More soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Crystal_, **by bloodymary2

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**CHAPTER 3:**

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The apartment was gloomy, only the faint light from outside preventing it from being completely overtaken by darkness. On the sofa sat a pajama clad Lois Lane. She had her blond hair up in a messy ponytail and her lower lip trapped between her teeth. She was worried and curious and contemplative. All because of the strange, clear stone she now held in her hands.

A crystal.

For some reason, she was sure it was a crystal.

The place was empty save for her; Lana and Chloe at the Isis Foundation for time undetermined. It was also official, too. Lana and Clark were no longer together. Nobody had taken the time to inform her, of course, but she knew. How else could she interpret Lana moving out of the farm, if not for that.

The crystal didn't shine.

It was strange how her thoughts couldn't stray for long from the object. It was cool to the touch, no matter how long she held it in her warm hand, the surface was smooth and it didn't shine. No matter how light struck at it, there was no reflection, or glimmer or small rainbow, as one would expect from a clear crystal.  
Lois twirled it, holding it with one hand and then another.

"What are you, anyway?" She ignored the reason for her impromptu conversation with an inanimate object and focused her eyes on the core of the stone. "Why did Chloe pale when she saw you?" Another twirl. "And why do I feel as if you are more than a simple paperweight?"

It didn't answer and she berated herself for expecting it to.

Lois sighed and leaned back on the couch, watching for a moment how the shadows danced on the ceiling.  
"I'm crazy, paranoid and now, apparently, a thief!" She was being overly dramatic, of course. In her life, there had been moments when borrowing and theft hadn't been two different things. The tank at prom. Her dad's cigarettes when she was thirteen. Files relevant to her investigations. The list went on and on.

"What do I do with you anyway?" She shook the crystal and was prepared to place it on the coffee table for Chloe to find, when something happened.

It warmed.

And not the kind of warmth one would come to expect from an object held by a hand. No, it warmed like a pot on the stove and it came dangerously close to being too hot for her fingers to bear. Lois frowned.

"What? You decided to manifest yourself now?" Instead of marveling at the wonder of a crystal that rapidly changed its temperature for reasons unknown, Lois continued talking to the crystal as one would with a pet. "What does getting all warm mean anyway? And what am I supposed to do about it?"

As if finally answering, the crystal illuminated from within, blue and red lights dancing so brightly, the apartment was no longer dark. "This looks like a police has just descended upon the place. Can't you do another set of colors?" She snorted. "Bet you are Clark's. Weird and way too fond of primary colors."

At the mention of the farmboy's name, the crystal shone even brighter and started to vibrate, a low hum filling the silence of the night. The creepiness factor rose to such heights that Lois abandoned her flip approach and invested into some uneasiness.

_What had she gotten herself into?_

And, just like that, the room spun in a vertiginous manner, making her feel rightfully dizzy. She tried holding on to the armrest of the sofa she presently occupied, but the furniture didn't seem exempt from the spinning. Closing her eyes helped as much as a leaf of paper in the midst of a torment. The last thought she had before unconsciousness claimed her, was of Clark Kent dressed in that red shirt, blue jacket combo he seemed so fond of.

"Smallville…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Clark looked around uncertainly, a bit overwhelmed by the excessive use of pink in the decor of the Isis Foundation. Perhaps the fact that his now ex-girlfriend – if it was possible to attach labels so soon after the whole fiasco – was the owner of the place and one of the two people he was there to see, helped with the feeling of displacement. He still couldn't completely wrap his mind around it.

They were over.

After all these years and everything that happened, how could it be so simple to break up? Would they orbit around each other until they reunited again or was it really the final straw, he wondered. Relief and sadness swam within him in equal parts.

Clark sighed; there were more pressing matters to devote his thoughts to. Like the mysterious crystal. Chloe had called earlier to say the crystal had appeared in her desk again and urged him to meet her at Lana's new workplace. He had hesitated, understandably, but had eventually conceded. This was a situation he could ignore. Only problem was that Chloe couldn't seem to find the crystal, though she swore it had been in her bag.

"So, Jor-El said that the crystal wasn't meant for you." Lana said. "Maybe it has a mind of its own." She shrugged, giving of an air of indifference to Clark's presence and the crystal that she didn't truly feel.

"So, what?" Chloe intervened. "Is it trying to tell me that I'm supposed to have it?" She didn't sound at all convinced.

"Maybe. This is the second time the crystal has mysteriously popped up in your desk, Chlo." Lana argued.

"But where is it now? It escaped during Jor-El's watch and I had it with me minutes before I got here and then I couldn't find anywhere!"

Clark crossed his arms and fixed his gaze in the distance. "Jor-El said that if it became needed, it would find the right person. But he was vague and cryptic, as usual." He paused. "What if… it's not Chloe?"

"But the Planet?" Chloe added, her head bobbing up and down in agreement.

The tall man shrugged. "Maybe. It's all speculation at this point."

"You may be right, Clark. We assume this has something to do with us, because we are _in the know._" Chloe made sure to use air quotes. "If it's popping up at the Planet, maybe it's meant to be found by someone else."

"Yeah, but who? We can't just let it go and trust that the crystal won't fall into the wrong hands." Lana's voice had that patronizing tone she had always used when talking to people she considered slower than her. Chloe had never been fond of it. With exasperation, she turned to face Clark and found that he was staring off into space, a look of pure concentration on his face.

"Clark?" The blonde's question alerted Lana that not all was well.

"Clark? Is everything okay?" When silence continued being the only answer, Chloe reached forward and touched his arm, which was still crossed over his chest.

"I… There's this drumming in my ears." Chloe shared a glance with Lana, both clearly worried.  
"Since when?"

"I don't know. I guess I didn't really notice it… not until that day at the dam." His gaze grew even more distant. "Now, it's always there, at the back of my mind."

Chloe's head tilted sideways, her eyes closing into slits. "Why is it bothering you now? It's been months since the dam broke."

"I don't know. I guess… it just seems amplified, somehow." He breathed in deeply and refocused his attention on his two companions. Offering a smile, he dismissed his earlier thoughts. "Well, there isn't much we can do about the crystal if we don't know what it is or where it is. There was no trace of it at the Fortress and Jor-El refused to answer any question about it."

Clark uncrossed his arms.

"I agree." Lana complied, eyes fixed on Clark and the way he seemed to avoid meeting her gaze.

"Okay." Resigned, Chloe fetched her bag. "But if it shows up again…"

"You call me and don't touch it." Clark finished. The cub reporter nodded.

"I'm going home now, still a long drive ahead of me."

"Chloe, I can take you! It's not safe to be driving so late." Clark's worried face had always been a weakness of hers. Chloe had been successful in putting her crush in the past, but no woman with a beating heart could deny how gorgeous he looked and how cute his expression could be. She sighed, feigning defeat.

"If I must." Then she grinned. She always got seriously dizzy when taking a ride in the Kent Express, but the rush was unbelievable!

Goodbyes were said and Lana found herself staring at the spot where her ex-lover and her best friend had just disappeared from. The wind Clark's fast moving had created lingered in the office a bit longer and she hugged her slender arms around her body. Feeling alone and chilled, she couldn't help the treacherous thoughts running through her mind.

_What if letting him go had been the worst mistake of her life?_

_xxxxxxxxx_

The first thing they noticed when the world stopped rushing around them was that the apartment above the Talon was utterly dark. That, in itself, wouldn't have been surprising. It was rather late. The lack of lights, however, made the glow of the crystal they had been searching for stand out that much more dramatically.

Eyes unwavering from the stone, Clark placed Chloe back on her feet. There was something else, too, that caught his attention. The drumming he had been living with for the past few months – annoying and comforting at the same time – was louder than it had ever been. The kryptonian couldn't understand why that felt so right.

He stepped forward.

The crystal's glow faded.

Frown firmly in place, Chloe ran to the wall by the door and hit the lights. There was nothing amiss about the place. But something was wrong. Something was missing.

"Lois." A quick perusal of the apartment she shared with her cousin proved that her keys were on the table by the door and her bag hung in the tall hook near the counter. Trading worried glances with her friend, Chloe went to check the bedroom. She didn't reach her intended destination, however.

She halted, eyes wide with worry.

Lois was lying behind the couch, pajama's almost completely shredded, hair in disarray and eyes firmly closed. With her heart pounding furiously, she reached for her cousin. Her skin was cold, but her chest still rose and fell with each steady breath she took. Chloe sighed with relief.

"Her vitals are regular, but her body temperature is way below normal." Clark's troubled voice so near behind her made Chloe jump.

Hand over her racing heart, Chloe chided her friend. "Jesus, Clark. Warn a girl before sneaking up like that."  
Clark's gaze didn't waver from Lois, though. He passed by Chloe and gently cradled the woman's unconscious frame in his arms. As he rose from the floor, Lois firmly held, he looked at the now dull crystal.

"Lois' desk is right next to yours, isn't it?"

Chloe's eyes grew big. "You think the crystal was after Lois?" Clark nodded. Anxiously, she worried her bottom lip. "What do you think happened?"

Clark's expression was somber, his jaw locked in place. "I don't know. But we can't take her to a hospital." They couldn't risk it, not unless absolutely necessary.

"Someone has to stay with her, though." He nodded in agreement.

"We'll take her to the farm." There was absolutely no room for arguing in the tone of voice he used and Chloe could do nothing but nod. There was no place safer than under Clark's watchful eyes anyway.

xxxxxxxxxx

Clark placed Lois gently onto his bed, and then stepped back. He took solace in the way her face seemed so peaceful, but the tension in his shoulders didn't diminish. After a second of contemplation, he left the room, so Chloe could change her out of the torn clothes she wore. They had checked for injuries and found none, which

made the gaps in the cloth of Lois' cowboy PJs that much more puzzling.

Swiftly, he zoomed back to the Talon and retrieved the crystal; it remained quiet in his hand for all of the two seconds it took the super powered man to place it on the low table in front of the couch. Clark fell ungracefully onto said couch and buried his face in his hands.

_Would the problems never cease?_

It seemed that every time they overcame a hurdle, another mountain loomed in the distance. He heard Chloe softly clicking the door to his room shut and waited for her footsteps to sound off the end of the staircase before he spoke. "Any changes?"

"No." The word escape along with a sigh. Eyes on the crystal, Chloe came to sit by his side. "Do you think she's going to be okay?"

"Of course." He had answered too quickly and Chloe knew that the words represented more his wish than his certainty, but she wasn't being picky. Lois had to be okay. She just had to. A tight feeling of dread surrounded her chest.

"I've been horrible to her lately." She played with her fingers. "Even after she almost died at the dam, I couldn't…" Chloe choked a sob. "Why couldn't I treat her better? Told her how much she meant to me?"  
Clark's strong arms offered her refuge from her doubts and her pain. He offered no platitudes – couldn't think of anything to say -, but his silent support went a long way to help appease Chloe's fear. He would fix it. Clark always managed to make things better in the end.

"What do we do now?" Her voice broke.

"If the crystal is meant for Lois, perhaps this is part of whatever it's meant to happen." He sighed. "I'll go to the Fortress and try Jor-El again." Though he didn't hold any hopes his father would be any more forthcoming with information than he had been this afternoon.

"Okay. I'll call in sick for her at the Planet. You know, so no one worries or tries to find her."

"I'll take care of her in the meantime." Up and down, his hand caressed her arm. "We'll figure things out."

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Brownies for those who reviewed. And hugs for those I haven't replied personally to. Review!


	4. Chapter 4

_**Crystal,**_ by bloodymary2

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**CHAPTER 4:**

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Lois needed at least two cups of coffee every morning to start the engines running. She could jump out of bed and be ready to go within short minutes – benefits of growing up with the General -, but her brain simply wouldn't work properly without some incentive. So, understandably, it was more autopilot than anything else that made her open her eyes just enough to see her surroundings and made sure she rolled out of bed and got to the bathroom to relieve her complaining bladder. It wasn't until she came face to face with herself in the mirror above the sink, though, that it finally registered in.

She had been in Clark's old room. At the Kent Farm. She was wearing a red and gold plaid shirt that was way too big for her frame. And her hair was in complete disarray.  
"What the…" Not only did she ignore the reason she now found herself in Clark's shirt and at the farm when the last thing she remembered was being at the apartment, Lois couldn't recall doing anything to make her hair stand on end.

_God, had something happened?_

Then, the memory of the crystal resurfaced. Had there really been freaky, primary colored lights? And, the spinning… had she imagined that? Fallen asleep on the couch and dreamt it perhaps. And what the hell was she now doing at the farm?

Uncertain, she washed her face to drive the last remnants of sleep away, breathed in deeply and prepared herself for more weirdness. This was Smallville, after all. Things could get a lot more bizarre than unscheduled trips.

Lois descended the wooden stairs, while glancing around for signs of life. There was no one in sight. She came all the way down and tentatively called out to Clark. She might have expected his head to pop out of the laundry room, but him, suddenly appearing at the front door didn't really figure as a possibility. Lois nearly jumped out of her own skin.

"Jesus, Clark. I know you have a bad habit of popping up all over the place at the most opportune moments, but wear a bell around your neck next time, please." He didn't frown, or laugh, or roll his eyes. He didn't smirk or respond in kind to her snaky comment and she unexpectedly felt self conscious.

_Why had he changed the script?_

Worse, yet, he looked genuinely worried and was staring at her with such intense eyes, that shivers went up and down her spine. She didn't usually see this part of him and forgot it was there most of the time.

"Are you okay?" She shrugged.

"I guess."

"What happened last night?"

"I…" Lois considered lying or at least omitting part of the truth. Telling him felt right, though. Almost as if she was compelled to do it.

_What was up with that anyway?_

She swallowed hard. "I found this crystal on Chloe's desk and it called to me, strange as it may sound. Next thing I know, I'm at home talking to it as if it were Shelby or something and it warmed in my hand. Just like that. Then it started glowing. Red and blue like you're so fond of. I even remember thinking that the freaky paperweight had to be yours, what with its obsession with primary colors. The room started spinning after that and I guess I just… blacked out."

Clark watched her still with those intense blue eyes of his and didn't say anything regarding her speech. "I'm not crazy, you know. It did happen… I think." She only whispered the last part, not wanting to believe it, although knowing it was possible she had dreamt it. Or imagined it. Or maybe lost her marbles completely.

"I believe you." His words didn't sound like reassurance. It seemed as if he really meant them and Lois found herself relaxing a bit.

Still, those intense orbs gazed upon her.

She shivered.

"Clark?" The man in question came forward, slow steps bringing him closer. When he was just at arm's reach, his hand rose from his side and touched her hand, half obscured by the long sleeve of the over-sized shirt she wore.

"You're still cold." Lois frowned. She didn't feel cold. Or warm, for that matter. The room temperature felt perfectly fine. Except for the heat emanating from Clark's hand. He had always been a source of excessive heat, though, so nothing differed.

"I'm fine."

"Your skin is ice cold." He insisted.

Lois shook her head. "I don't feel cold." Seeing the frown on Clark's forehead wrinkle even further made Lois feel like a bug under scrutiny. She glanced around the living room and that's when the crystal caught her attention. She turned back to meet Clark's worried gaze. "You saw it glow?"

He nodded.

"And?"

"You were passed out in your apartment, your clothes were torn up. And you were cold." His words made her remember her sleeping attire and she almost blushed. Almost, cause Lanes didn't blush. Ever.

"Did you…" She pointed to the large flannel shirt she wore. "You know?" He dared chuckle! Lois saw no reason for him to be amused at her expense.

"No, Lois. Chloe changed your clothes."

And then the awkward silence returned. Shifting, Lois allowed her gaze to once again settle on the seemingly harmless crystal on the table. It still called to her, a strange magnetic pull, and regardless of the happenings from the night before, she wasn't afraid of it. There was a certainty within her saying it would never bring her any harm.

She walked over to the living room and took a seat at the couch in front of the table where said crystal laid. Her hand extended towards it and her fingers were almost touching its cool, smooth surface, when Clark's warm hand closed around her wrist. Lois looked up, startled.

"Don't touch it." Somber, he moved her hand away and sat next to her. "It's dangerous."

"No, it's not."

"Lois…" He incredulously stared at her. "Your clothes were torn, your skin cold and you were unconscious!"

She couldn't explain the feeling of being safe. A feeling, in fact, quite similar to the one she got at the Kent Farm, a haven of sorts.

"I…" Lois twisted her hand and freed it from his grasp. To prevent him from doing it again, she covered his finger with hers. "I can't not touch it." Shrug. "It's hard to explain", she whispered.

"Lois, please. You don't know what you are dealing with here. The crystal is, somehow, manipulating you. Just because it said it's not dangerous, doesn't mean it won't bring you harm!" She was watching him with narrowed eyes.

"You know something you're not telling me", she accused. Clark sighed in response.

"I just… worry." It was lame and not even a proper excuse and Lois rolled her eyes at such typical Clark behavior.

"Generally, I would let your lame non-committal brush offs slide, Smallville, because it's none of my business and people keep secrets for good reasons. But this concerns me directly and I deserve answers." He remained silent. Whatever it was he kept hidden, it wasn't a secret he wanted to share with her.

That hurt, oddly enough.

She would never force him, though. Casting a sideway glance at the crystal and another at Clark, who had his head downcast, Lois decided that she would ignore his hesitations. After all, her respect for his privacy didn't make her any less bullheaded and curious. With his hand still in hers, Lois reached quickly and grasped the crystal with the other.  
It instantly glowed.

Soft blue and red lights danced around them. Lois watched them fascinated. Clark, on the other hand, gulped and looked around him with apprehension. Why would the crystal choose Lois of all people? He recalled Jor-El's words of altered paths and unchangeable destiny and couldn't help but worry. If the crystal activated, that probably meant something happened which shouldn't have.

That word again…

Destiny, looming over him and those he knew ominously. Clark squeezed the hand she had placed on his and wished for life to remain the same. It wasn't perfect, his existence, and Clark would be lying if he denied the thousand '_what if's_he had indulged in throughout the years. Yet, there were constants he simply could not phantom losing. Lana, Chloe, his mother… and Lois. He didn't always like her, but she was still his friend.

The light show didn't change, but their effect on Lois did. Her look of wonder was quickly replaced by agony and a cry of pain escaped her parted lips. The crystal dropped from her hand and her body tensed and arched, before crumpling against his chest. Angry and sad and feeling helpless, Clark embraced her gently.

"Please, be okay. Please, be okay… please."

He didn't care what Jor-El had said, could care less what destiny thought it had planned for Lois... and him. Clark Kent would not allow that crystal anywhere near Lois ever again.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Chloe opened the door to the yellow farmhouse and dropped her purse and a small travel bag on the counter, along with her car keys. The place seemed empty and eerily quiet, making her mind shift from tired to worried. Life had been crazy and much too fast these last couple of years. When would it end, she wondered. When would it be enough.

"Clark?"

"Upstairs!"

She climbed the stairs and entered Clark's room. The man sat in a chair next to the bed, a worried frown upon his brow. On the bed, Lois lay, restless, a sheen of cold sweat covering the exposed skin of her face and neck. Moans and unintelligible words escaped from her cousin's parted lips.

"When did this start and why didn't you call me?" Chloe couldn't seem to keep the accusation out of her question.

"Close to noon, she woke up, came down the stairs and talked to me as if everything was perfectly fine." He sighed, fingers combing unruly hair out of his eyes. "She told me she found the crystal and that it was like it was calling out to her. It didn't react at first, but then it warmed and glowed and she blacked out." He rose from the chair and started pacing in the short space between the window and the bed. "She wanted to touch it again and I told her no and she asked why – because she's Lois and why would she do something simply because someone told her to – and I couldn't bring myself to tell her the truth. She didn't even pressure me into saying anything, even though she looked completely disappointed. I wanted to tell her then, but it's hard fighting that instinct to protect the secret, you know? Too many people know already and it's so dangerous. And then..."  
All the pent up tension he had been exuding since Chloe had walked into the room seemed to suddenly evaporate. Clark deflated like a balloon with a hole in it and dropped back onto the chair he had been occupying before. He ran a hand through his hair in frustrations and fixed his eyes on Lois again.

"I wasn't paying attention. It's all my fault. I…" He whispered brokenly. "She reached out and grabbed it. There were red and blue lights all around us. And then I felt…"  
"Clark?" Chloe stepped closer. "You felt what?"

"A pull. Like… I don't know, just…" His eyes closed forcibly. "And then Lois started to scream. She was in so much pain, Chloe. So much pain."

"Why?" Chloe sat in the space near her cousin's legs, a hand touching them over the comforter. "Why would the crystal do that to her? How can this help destiny?"

"I don't know."

xxxxxxx

Lois Lane, despite her young years, had known her share of pain.

Broken bones, open wounds, dark bruises and bleeding heart; she had experienced it all as only the tomboy, daughter of a general, could. Nothing in her life, however, could have prepared her for the searing pain growing from within her and spreading to every single nerve ending. Intense, like being split in two. After a period of time undetermined, and seemingly endless, the pain suddenly ceased, replaced by a burning sensation.

There was no understanding along with the pain. The crystal continued being utterly mysterious and trustworthy, she felt. Which probably led a lot more credence to Clark's argument that the polished piece of rock could be deceiving.

She could feel Clark near, though. A steady presence keeping her anchored and safe.

"Clark?" _Was that her voice, softly whimpering?_

Lois could feel him, but couldn't see him anywhere. Everything was so white, so clear, no floor or ceiling. She wondered if it was a place or a state of being. Was she dying? Somehow, she doubted.

"Clark?" Her voice didn't echo, didn't even travel more than a few feet away from her body; it dissipated in the air.

"Jor-El, please!" The strong whisper came from behind her, but no one stood there. It was a woman's voice, a desperate voice.

"We have no choice, Lara. Do you want him to die?" A man's harsh answer sounded from somewhere unknown and made Lois jump, head whipping this way and that, trying to locate its source.

"He's just a baby, Jor-El. He won't be able to defend himself." The woman pleaded. "What if the wrong man finds him? Oh, my poor baby…"

Jor-El's voice softened, as he whispered, "You could go with him, my love. It is not too late."

"I am not leaving you!" The woman, who had thus far sounded meek, had suddenly grown in strength and determination that managed to touch Lois deeply.

"We must send him away, Lara. What chance has he here? The Council won't listen and Brainiac has everyone convinced. I have done all I can do for Krypton, without losing hope."

There was no answer, but silence. Lois wiped a stray tear off the corner of her eye, her heart constricting for Lara, a woman whose face she hadn't even seen. How desperate could a couple be, to be forced to send their beloved child away to the unknown as the only chance to save him. How hopeless.

The absolute white faded to darkness, shadows dancing at the corners. Lois couldn't see much, beyond the palm of her own hand. She knew, though, that she was inside the Kent barn, somewhere under the stairs that led to Clark's loft. How had she gotten there, she wondered. It took her awhile to notice she wasn't alone in the darkness.

A soft whimper.

"Hello?"

Her eyesight gradually adapted to the modest lighting and Lois was finally able to discern a little boy folded into a tight ball, hiding near the stairs. He was crying so silently, she could scarcely hear him.

"Hey…" Lois reached out slowly, hoping not to startle the boy. She was surprised, however, when her hand passed right through his shoulder. Not only that, but he seemed unable to hear her, hands still tightly hugging his legs.

Soft footsteps echoed from behind her and Lois wearily turned around. Through the slits of the stairs, she saw a pair of work boots appear. Following them up, she was able to discern a tall man in a flannel shirt coming closer. He stopped at the first step and bent over, revealing his kind face and head full of blond hair.

"Mr. Kent!"

He too seemed not to hear her, as he softly spoke. "Clark?"

The little boy beside her whimpered again, almost as if afraid of the older man. If he was Clark, though, Lois couldn't phantom why he would fear his father. Mr. Kent sighed and sat upon the stairs, his back to the hidden boy.

"Sometimes, son, we do things we don't mean to. Sometimes, we hurt those we love. But that doesn't mean we don't love them or that they love us less for it. Do you understand?"

"I'm not like the other boys, am I?" The little Smallville asked quietly.

"No…" Jonathan Kent turned again and met his son's scared blue gaze in such a gentle manner that Lois found herself with quiet tears in her eyes. "You are special, son. And that's a good thing."

"But I…" Clark hiccupped, as fresh tears brimmed his eyes. "I hurt mommy and now she won't be my mommy anymore… But I didn't mean to!"

"Mommy's arm will hurt for a little while and then the hurt will go away. People get hurt sometimes, Clark. It just happens. Her love for you will never change, though. She will be your mommy forever."

Unsure, Clark crawled from his hiding place and approached his father. Lois, too, left the semi darkness of the hideaway to observe the scene more closely. Young Clark wiped his tears away using the long sleeve of his little flannel shirt and bravely met Mr. Kent's patient gaze.

"Will you help me, Daddy? I don't want to hurt people ever again."

Mr. Kent opened his arms and Clark let himself be embraced, sure in the knowledge that, in his father's arms, all would be okay. Lois smiled at the scene, watching as father and son slowly melted away from sight, leaving her alone at the bottom of the stairs.

A crash from upstairs startled her and Lois heard angry mutterings in a familiar voice. Curious about the things the crystal seemed to be showing her, she climbed each wooden step. The first thing she saw, before even reaching the final steps, was a bent knife lying carelessly on the floor and broken shards of glass all around. Upwards, she glanced and the sight which greeted her stopped her dead in her tracks.

_Clark…_

He couldn't have been older than thirteen, but he was unmistakably Clark Kent. Tall, he looked scrawny enough for her to assume he had grown faster than he could eat. And the eyes… Anguished, like the whole weight of the world balanced itself upon his fragile back. What caused her to pause, though, was the blood smeared all over his bare chest and hands. She couldn't see any wounds, but the amount was too great.

"Smallville?"

The teen version of her friend turned her way and for a second, Lois thought he had heard her whisper his name. Her hope was short lived, however, when the reassuring voice of Martha Kent echoed from the stairs at her back.

"Clark? What are you doing?"

Fresh tears fell through old tracks on his pale cheeks, as the boy hit his soaked hand to his chest. "It hurts, Mom. I hurt like everyone does, but then it's gone. I'm not normal!"  
Books and then a chair flew across the room, victims of Clark's rage. "You told me I was special… But I'm not! I'm a freak! I'm a freak!"

And, as if the despair filled cry had managed to drain him completely, his legs buckled from under him and Clark fell to his knees.

_I'm a freak…_

Martha rushed to his side, tears of her own marking her face. She gently embraced her beloved son, unaware or uncaring of the blood covering most of his skin and clothes, and told him all would be okay.

"You are special, Clark. So special. And it's hard sometimes, but everything will be alright in the end."

The platitudes that had reassured the little boy, suddenly were not enough for the growing teen. Clark shook his head vehemently, sobbing even harder than before. "No, it's not… it won't be okay, Mom."

He pulled back so Martha could see him and produced a shard of broken glass. Faster than his mom could prevent it, the boy swiped it across his cheek, producing more blood onto the skin. Lois found herself gasping alongside Martha and she stepped closer, even knowing there was nothing she could do.

What could drive a boy to do that to himself?

"I'm a freak, mom… A freak! And freaks don't get happy endings."

More shocking than the cutting, for Lois, was to watch as the cut bleeding profusely slowly healed, leaving behind only the blood it had spurt. Open mouthed, Lois saw Martha wipe the red substance away, revealing the unmarred cheek.

"You are not a freak, Clark. You are my son. You hear me? My son and nobody calls my son a freak." With that, she hugged him tighter, swaying back and forth. Lois couldn't help her own tears from falling for the boy's pain and his mother's inability to make it all better, even as her mind reeled from what she had seen and learned.

Could this be real, she wondered. Could quiet, shy, somber Clark Kent heal like that?  
The loft slowly faded from view.

Lois saw a tall tree materialize, leaves falling slowly to the grass below. A bit disoriented, she turned in a semi circle, until she saw an old building with big lettering announcing SMALLVILLE's ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. A group of girls were closed in a tight circle, their heads inclined together, while whispering secretly to each other. Lois stepped closer.

"Did you see them holding hands in the hallway? So romantic…"

"I think it won't last. Last month he was with Sarah."

"True. You know…"

It took her a second, but Lois finally recognized Lana Lang as one of the excited crew. It was surprising how young and so very innocent she looked. A crash sound from beyond the group drew theirs and Lois' attention. Clark, looking very much as he had on the last vision, lay on the floor, books scattered all around him. A dark skinned boy was helping him rise, though Clark looked as if he might prefer to be swallowed whole by the ground. The girls in the circle all started to snicker at his clumsiness. All, except Lana, who gently placed her hair behind her right ear and shyly smiled his way.

The despair faded a little out of young Clark's face and though he didn't smile back, some of the weight on his shoulders seemed to lighten. Lois had never quite understood Smallville's obsession with Lana Lang, especially after Lex Luthor. Seeing this scene and the girl's silent sympathy, however, she could begin to see it all make sense. In a time of despair, Lana had been his light at the end of the tunnel.

Once more, it all faded.

Instead of a new scene appearing, her surroundings returned to being all black, no up, down or sides to help orient her. Thankfully, there was no pain this time. Just the reassuring presence of the crystal and a warm presence somewhere near… invisible and unnamed, but very much there.

Then, the presence grew stronger and a voice broke through the silence. It was familiar and comforting and drew her closer to it.

It was Clark's voice, calling her name.

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Comments, mistakes, praise, cookies are always welcomed and appreciated. =D


	5. Chapter 5

**__A/N: **I'll be trying to post more reguarly, as promised. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews!

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**_Crystal_, **by bloodymary2

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**CHAPTER 5:**

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Clark sat in the armchair his father had once called his and kept his gaze firmly focused on the room upstairs, where Lois still lay, seemingly slumbering in peace. Chloe sat in the couch beside him, nursing a cup of coffee. They kept their silence, unsure of what to say or how to voice the lingering doubts and fear they both felt at this situation.

The crystal sat innocuously on the table before them.

Soon, Chloe would have to leave. There were classes and her internship at the Planet. She would have to leave her cousin on Clark's capable hands. And they would probably still be where they were at this moment.

No answers, at all.

The kitchen door creaked open and both friends turned to it, curious. Lana appeared soon thereafter, a self conscious uncertainty in her face. The somber looks she received for her impromptu visit were unexpected.

"Is something wrong?"

Clark spared her only a brief moment of his attention before returning his gaze to the ceiling. Chloe, on the other hand, rose to meet Lana halfway into the kitchen.

"The crystal resurfaced." Her interest was piqued. "Lois found it and it reacted differently to her."

"What did the crystal show?"

The blonde shook her head. "Nothing. It glowed and Lois passed out. She woke up a little afterwards, touched the crystal again and is now out cold." Chloe sighed and placed her half drunk mug in the sink. "We haven't been able to figure anything yet and Lois is unresponsive."

"Have you tried the crystal?"

"No." The answer came from Clark, gaze still pointed at the ceiling. "We are not messing with it anymore."

Lana would have argued, but she had grown tired of Clark's making decisions they all had to abide by. Without saying a word, she stepped into the living room and sat on the couch. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Chloe, arms crossed, leaning against the column of the entryway.

"Clark… the best way to help Lois is to understand the crystal." She reached forward and placed a hand upon his arm. He didn't seem inclined to acknowledge her presence.  
Feeling bold by his rejection, Lana made swift work of grabbing the crystal, sure Clark would be too distracted to notice her move. It took her a moment to realize her fingers hovered over the polished stone, his strong fingers impeding their advance. Wide eyes, she saw his determined jaw as he reached for it with his unoccupied hand.

The minute he touched it, the crystal glowed red and blue. And, before them, another vision took shape. It was Lois once more, dressed in a knee length skirt and blue shirt. Her hair was up in a loose bun, loose strands dancing around her face as she paced before the fireplace. Lois paused, glanced at the door and then resumed her nervous pacing, as she made short work of her nails.

A glow from the ring on her finger caught their attention. An engagement ring, side by side with a wedding ring.

Lois jumped almost out of her skin when the sound of a door bursting open echoed around them. "Now, honey, I can explain!"

And then she was no more.

Chloe uncrossed her arms and stepped closer. "I don't think it is a coincidence that Lois was the first person the crystal showed in the barn, or that she appeared now. If this thing is trying to say something, we better learn to speak its language pronto."

Clark had a faraway look to his blue green eyes. "Are the visions from the future that is or the one that should be?"

"What do you mean?" Lana asked, frowning.

"The crystal only manifests if something with destiny has been tampered with…" Chloe speculated, as Clark nodded in agreement.

"I think the visions are the future that should be."

"What do you suppose went wrong?" Lana asked. The question went unanswered, though. Clark was staring intently at the ceiling once more and Chloe was anxiously watching him do it.

"Is she awake?" Chloe asked, already making her way to the stairs. Clark nodded in response, still not changing the direction of his x-ray enhanced stare. Then, in a gust of wind, he was gone, beating Chloe to the room Lois occupied.

Lana sighed, feeling left out, as it usually was the case when Chloe and Clark were involved in one of their investigations. She remained sitting; resentful of the attention the crystal seemed to call onto Lois.

xxxxxx

Lois was not what most would be willing to consider a morning person. Twisting in bed, she arched her sore back and squinted her eyes, the light in the room more than her sleep addled brain could process at this time. A groan escaped her lips and she shifted again, lying on her side and facing the door, away from the offending brightness. A gust of wind brushed over her face, not coming from the window, oddly, but from the door. Curiously, she squinted one eye open and spied Clark Kent standing at the doorway.

"Smallvile," she acknowledged and immediately closed her eyes once more. She was not ready to deal with him just yet.

"How are you feeling?" With sight gone from her list of senses for the moment, Lois detected a worried edge to his voice. She didn't want to care.

"I'm not in the mood to tell you, Smallville. Maybe another time." Lois didn't see it, of course, but in her mind's eye she could rightly picture him frowning at her poisonous comment.

"But... why?"

Lois opened her eyes once more, sleep completely gone now. She sat up in bed, did a quick visual check of her present attire and looked right at the tall farmboy as she answered his question. " I can be mysterious and not up to sharing, too, Smallville. You don't corner the market, you know."

He opened his mouth, tried to think of something to say and found no words to say them. Good, thought Lois. It is good for him to taste the bitterness of his own medicine. She felt tired, though, her mind still wildly processing the things her dreams had shown her.  
If they had been dreams at all. Somehow, Lois had the feeling the crystal had been involved with them and it scared her to think the images had been real. It was too soon for her mind to process it all, especially with the tall man in question hovering over her like a mother hen.

She threw her legs to the side and got up, glancing over the room to see if she could locate any form of pants. Hers weren't anywhere she could see and Smallville seemed not to have been using the room much, since hardly any items cluttered the space.

"Where are my clothes, Clark?"

He swallowed audibly, shifted his large frame awkwardly and then snapped to, finally registering her question. "They're gone. I mean, they were torn, so Chloe threw them away."

"Huh... So, I'll be needing pants so I can go home. I'm borrowing a pair."

"Home? But Lois, maybe you should..."

"Don't even think of finishing that sentence, Clark. You don't get to play secretive agent with me and then decide what I do and do not do. Capische?"

"Lois, you are awake!" Chloe chose that moment to enter the room, eyes curiously scanning the situation between the pair. Clark looked like a wounded animal and Lois like a caged tiger ready to burst free from its encasement and attack. So, not good.

"Yeah. One generally is awake after being asleep." Lois let loose her anger in sarcasm and proceeded to the wardrobe, needing to leave as soon as possible. She needed space to think!

"Don't be like that, Lo. We were worried. You've been out a long time." Strategically, Chloe positioned herself between her friend and her cousin. There seemed to be too much tension in the air between them.

"And now I'm fine. Really, Chlo. What I need now is less hovering and more work. I don't know how much I missed, but either way, it was too much. A journalist is only as good as his last piece. I don't need to tell you that." Lois grabbed a pair of sweatpants and slid her legs in. The only way to hold them around her hips was pulling tight at the strings. Hardly attractive, but serviceable.

Chloe knew her cousin well enough to know when not to argue. She nodded. "Okay, I'll drive you to the Talon. You don't have your car here."

"Great! Let's go."

Lois marched passed Chloe and squished passed Clark, who still blocked most of the doorway. The brief contact was enough to sent tingling sensations up her spine and make her stomach drop. She needed air... now!

Her shoulder brushing his made Clark alert to the fact that she was, in fact, leaving. He couldn't quite understand why that made him feel uneasy and even more worried than he had been before. It took him less than a second to turn as well and follow Lois down the stairs. Good thing she did, too, for she stopped dead in her tracks on the bottoms step, gaze fixed upon the living room.

At first, Clark thought she had been taken by surprise by Lana's presence. But as he followed her line of sight, it became clear she was, in fact, fixed upon the crystal atop the table. Determined to not have a repeat of the previous disaster, he grabbed Lois by the shoulders and spun her around to face him.

"No more touching the crystal, Lois. I mean it! It's dangerous."

His words were firm and almost authoritarian. And though he expected a strong reaction to such a direct order, Lois said nothing. Her eyes, though, had plenty to say. She shot daggers at him and narrowed her eyes into slits. Clark knew this discussion was far from over, but remained unshaken in his stance.

Lois shuddered his hands off her shoulders and walked briskly to the front door, giving him and the crystal no spare glance. It wasn't until Chloe had hurried after her cousin and closed the door behind her that Clark released the breath he had been holding.  
From the sidelines, Lana watched this scene unfold, her stomach in knots.

xxxxxxx

Repeating the same actions and expecting different results truly was not the work of a sane mind. Clark should have know that. Still, focused entirely in keeping the crystal away from Lois, he again attempted to hide it. Two days later, he noticed it was again missing of its own volition. Clark threw the lead box which had contained the crystal away from himself with such force that the case ended up three states over. He had needed ten minutes to calm down enough to retrieve it.

That same day, Lois walked in tiredly into the Talon's upstairs apartment, her home for now, and tossed her keys into the bowl by the door. It took her five minutes to actually notice the clear crystal of mystery sitting innocently in the cushion next to where she had dropped her body. At first, she was startled. Then, she hesitated. Clark had been sincerely worried - though she had yet to acknowledge his presence since the incidence with the crystal at the farm - and maybe, just maybe, there was a genuine reason for keeping away from the strange paperweight.

Patience, however, had never been something Lois could claim as hers. Throwing caution and a Clark shaped conscious to the wind, she reached for the crystal and waited.  
Nothing happened.

It didn't glow or warm or show her anything. It felt ordinary in her palm. For a moment, she considered it to be a possible fake. Dismissing that thought - the shape and weight were exactly the same -, she then wondered if the magic it had contained had been somehow drained. The object had no answers for her.

There was somewhere else she could find answers, though. Someone else who may know more. And, since neither he, nor his loyal friend and recently her estranged cousin, could or would divulge any bit of information, maybe it was time Lois stopped ignoring the weird and unexplained which surrounded the pair and investigate.

Yes, time to shed some light into the mystery that was Smallvile. Man and town.  
It was a good plan. A plan that could answer a lot of lingering questions. A plan though, that Lois abandoned by the time her head touched the pillow. People kept secrets for a reason and Clark would be no different. She knew that. And after the visions she had while in a crystal-induced sleep, she knew that with most certainty.

Clark had too much to hide and everything to lose.

In the drawer where it had been hidden, the crystal again glowed softly and went by unnoticed.

xxxxxxxxx

That night, Lois was plagued by strange dreams. Swirls of color, flashes of emotions, glimpses of faces. Some she recognized, some she didn't. There was nothing concrete, though. Nothing she could rightly grasp or understand. Instead of making her feel unsettled, though, these images made her feel calm.

Like they meant something her conscious brain couldn't understand, but that made sense, somehow.

The next morning, Lois awoke feeling light and placid.

She greeted Chloe with a small smile and a half mumbled word, then made a beeline for the fresh coffee cup. Her cousin smiled and for a moment, it felt like old times, before Clark Kent or journalism got in the way. By the time they made it to the Daily Planet, both were in excellent moods.

It was closer to the lunch hour, that things started to revert back.

Chloe watched her cousin typing away, careless of the typos she was surely making. 'That is what spell-check is for, Chlo!', the blonde could almost hear the other woman saying in response. It was strange seeing Lois again so back to her usual self and it only made Chloe feel more distant from her closest relative. She knew that, in a way, she was responsible for the growing gap between herself and the woman sitting across from her. It was difficult watching her excel at journalism, though, when she herself had had to work so hard to get so much less recognition.

It was jealously, plain and simple.

Knowing that, however, didn't make it easier.

"Lane. Are you working on that mayor piece I told you not to work on?"

Chloe hadn't noticed their boss, Grant, appearing any more than Lois had. The blonde watched as Lois paused mid typing and tightened her jaw, before resuming her earlier work, no words directed at the senior reporter. Chloe frowned in confusion. Was she missing something?

"Laaaane..." The tone was used as a warning and even Lois couldn't ignore it.

"Yeeesss..." Lois seemed impatient.

Grant paused then, glance fixed upon her face and even Chloe felt uncomfortable. "Did you change you hair?"

"Nope. Now, tell me what you need to tell me so I can finish here. I have a source meeting in an hour." The tone was flippant, but Chloe knew her cousin better than that. Something was off.

"Nice, Lane. In my office. I was very specific about that story!"  
The eavesdropping reporter had no knowledge of which story they were discussing and why Grant had nixed it. One thing was certain, though, Lois was not happy about it. Not even two minutes after the editor's door had closed, Lois was again exiting the office, eyes rolling and lips pursed.

Oh, to be a fly in that wall.

It never occurred Chloe to ask.

xxxxxx

Lois Lane was not patient, not a morning person and generally, all would agree that she was too stubborn for her own good. But if there was one thing Lois was good at, it was reporting. The nerve of Grant, for even suggesting she hand over her scoop to a senior reporter, simply because it was '_too dangerous'_for her to handle, made her want to seethe. She was a General's daughter, for Heaven's sake.

And to make matters worse, Grant had been making outward comments about a possible relationship between them. If she had been interested, it would have been endearing. But, since she was not interested - pass a vague attraction, which had by that time completely dissipated -, it was simply annoying.

What she dared not form into conscious thought, was the fear quickly growing in the pit of her stomach, loosely shaped like doubt, that taunted her endlessly. Y_ou don't belong here_. It had been Grant, who had hired her after all. Quite unexpectedly.

Lois was not one to wallow in self doubt, however, and this niggling doubt only made her want to work harder and prove to herself and everyone around her, who shared her thoughts, that she was a great reporter and belonged in the great Daily Planet.

With purposeful strides, she made her way to the copy room, determined to regain her bearings before returning to her desk and Chloe's sure inquisition. To be honest, she was not paying particular mind to the actions of her hands, as they shuffled papers and stabbed the big green button of the copier. That is, not until her finger had an unfortunate encounter with the sharp edge of a sheet of paper. A sting and a small pool of blood quickly followed.

"Shit!" She sighed, putting her finger into her mouth to staunch the flow of blood. "This is so not my week."

The tip of her finger turned out to be cut a little deeper than first inspection had revealed and the blood didn't stop flowing as quickly as Lois had expected it to. Simply rolling her eyes heavenward in exasperation, Lois made to leave the room in search of some tissue or even a band aid, when a strange feeling overtook her.

The room around her faded at the edges and before Lois could blink the darkness away, who should appear before her but Clark Kent. His hair was a bit longer, but otherwise he looked the same, jeans and white t-shirt covering his large frame. She opened her mouth to say his name, not completely sure how she felt about seeing him again after the whole crystal incident.

She didn't have time.

A wall of flames rushed from behind him, consuming air rapidly. Her eyes widened in fright and a scream stuck in her throat. Clark seemed unconcerned with the fire, though. He rushed to a little boy holding a red toy truck and knelt, shielding the boy from the heat of the flames. Neither burned nor hurt, Clark got up, eyes scanning for something. Only his shirt showed signs of the fire.

The edges of her vision regained clarity and Clark vanished. Lois breathed in deeply, confused, and looked around, sure she would see the crystal that kept popping up in unexpected places. It was nowhere to be seen.

Her attention returned to the sliced finger, her mind desperate for something real and concrete to hold on to. But more surprises seemed to be her inevitable fate. Her finger, though slightly smeared with blood, no longer bled, nor was it hurt whatsoever. The cut had simply disappeared.

Lois allowed her eyes to close, a shuddered sigh escaping her parted lips. The hand with blood closed into a fist and the other hand rose to cover her mouth.

_What was happening to her?_

* * *

Do you know what s happening with Lois? Anyone care to speculate?


	6. Chapter 6

**A/C: **I don't know why chapter 5 is all in bold. The original file in my Doc Manager is not like that. I'll keep trying to fix it. Thank you for your reviews and comments.

This is for _DJ Doena_ for having asked so nicely for more.

* * *

**CHAPTER 6:**

* * *

"Something's bothering you, Chloe. What is it?" Clark had his arms crossed over his chest, while a frown marred his forehead. It was unsurprising, since their topic of discussion was none other than Lois Lane. It bothered him how she had studiously avoided him this past week.

"It's nothing, Clark." She paused in her denial, Clark's knowing look reminding her of who she was speaking to and how very well he knew her. "Well, nothing I can properly put into words."

"What do you mean?" Lana seemed ever present in all their discussions as of late and it made Chloe uneasy to be with her and Clark when they were obviously broken up and talking of another woman.

Though it was Lois and Clark hardly saw her that way.

"It is nothing she's done or said. It is just a feeling that something's off about Lois. And the situation with Grant is not helping."

Chloe immediately noticed how Clark straightened his back at her editor's name, chest puffing out in an intimidating manner. Maybe she had to review her earlier thought of there being nothing between Lois and Clark, because that posture sure as hell meant something.

"What situation with Grant?"

She shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. "It's just a vibe I get when he's around Lois. And he keeps nixing her stories and requesting to talk with her privately. Lois seems mad half the time and annoyed the rest."

What Chloe didn't say and Clark failed to understand, was that she had serious doubts about Grant's intentions regarding her cousin, her job and these frequent and suspicious meetings behind closed doors. The reporter didn't want to voice her thoughts on the matter, but she still thought them all the same.

"And the crystal? Do you think it appeared for Lois again?" Lana cut in, seeing Chloe's silence for what it really meant and not wishing to discuss it further.  
"She hasn't mentioned it and I didn't see any signs of it at the Planet. And Lois spends more time there than she does at home these days." Lana nodded and let the subject drop.

Clark, in the meantime, couldn't help but think about Lois, the glow surrounding them as she touched the crystal and Jor-El's words about the crystal's purpose. And, in the back of his mind, he only half registered the constant drumming his ears had picked up and continued to focus on.

xxxxx

For three whole days, Lois ignored the haunting presence of the mysterious crystal in her bedside drawer. She refrained from looking at it or even thinking about it as she worked, while she ate and during her sleeping hours. Despite her stubborn side - and her curious streak - she was starting to think Clark's warning had some merit. Maybe the crystal was dangerous.

She was also not thinking at all of her prickled finger and strange healing.  
Her vision in the copy room had been followed by a vision of Clark on a bridge and a sports car careening his way while she had been typing on her computer. At night, before sleep could claim her, Lois had seen Clark jump from one building to another, the distance between them too great to ignore. During her shower, the next morning, Lois had seen the glow of green rocks and could have sworn she heard a groan of terrible pain echoing all around her.

It was either insanity or there was something seriously bizarre about the crystal and its power.

And it all came down to Clark Kent.

It should have been surprising that normal, all American boy, Clark Kent could be the center of such elaborate and awe-inspiring events. But it wasn't. It made sense, somehow.

Lois sat at her desk, elbows on the cluttered surface and face hidden behind her hands. A pounding headache seemed to have permanently installed itself behind her eyes and she felt so very tired that the peace and calmness of that first night after her return to the Talon seemed but a distant memory.

She wondered what had changed.

And the thoughts, the memories and the visions... They were surely going to drive her mad.

"Lois Lane hard at work?"

The voice, sarcastic and mean, made it impossible to deny its owner. Lois didn't need to open her eyes to see that it was Lex Luthor standing by her desk.

"Go away."

He laughed, clearly amused, and that frustrated Lois to no end. It had not been her intention to be funny and her mumbled request had been nothing but pure honesty. She wanted him gone.

"Well, I can see you are not in the mood for our usual repartee and considering you are one of the last people around at this hour, perhaps I can concede that you have been working hard."

Maybe he could have been called charming in other circumstances. Some people might even have found him to be a good conversationalist. Lana had been enchanted enough to marry the guy. But Lois was not of this opinion. For her, Luthor had fallen from grace way before she had the displeasure of meeting him.

"Go away."

Her voice, this time, held more venom than the first and sounded more like a demand than a request. Lex was determined not to take the hint though.  
"Perhaps you need some coffee. Allow me to buy you some."

"Gee... That's just what I was waiting to hear. Not."

Lois finally dropped her hands, face becoming visible. Her eyes were bloodshot and bags had already started to grow under her eyes. Though tired looking, she showed nothing but contempt to the man standing before her.

"Take a hint, Luthor, and leave me alone."

Lex lost the amused face he had been sporting and concentrated on her face. He seemed to be suddenly concerned. "Lois, are you ok?"

He reached a hand to touch her shoulder and Lois again felt the edges of her vision darken.

_Not again. Not now!_

The Lex Luthor she saw before her was replaced by another, dressed with a darker suit. Startled, Lois flinched backwards, horror written across her face as she saw the rich playboy crazily beating a man to death. Quick as it appeared, the vision faded, returning her to the present.

Lex scrutinized her with intense abandon.

"What was that?"

Lois tried to calm her nerves. The last thing she needed right now was to appear flighty and suspicious. She breathed in deeply and slowly exhaled, taking the time to survey her surroundings. No one else was in the bullpen.

"Nothing. I'm just jumpy. It's lack of sleep." Again he tried to approach her, hand aiming for her shoulder. Again, she flinched away. "What? You think I buy this concerned act of yours? Please..."

She rolled her eyes.

"It was not nothing, Lois. Your eyes misted over, your face lost all its color and for a moment, you seemed far away." Lex placed both hands in his pocket, a calculating look in his eyes. "You are as bad as Clark with your weak evasions."

Lois rolled her eyes once more.

"And even if something was wrong or different or whatever, what makes you think you deserve to know?"

She pushed the chair back and rose. Grabbing her bag and the coat which hung behind her chair, Lois bypassed the silent man and made her way to the staircase.

"Maybe we are not friends, Lois, but Clark was my best friend. And time and time again he lied to me."

"Friend..." She snorted, pausing briefly at the foot of the stairs. "Please. Real friends don't feel the need to ask, don't investigate behind the other's back and certainly, don't think themselves entitled to know it all about the other. If you had really been Clark's friend, you would have waited for him to tell you." With this parting words, she proceeded to climb the stairs, uncaring about the man left below.

"He would have never told me!" Lex lost his composure and yelled, hands fisting at his sides. Red overtook his pale skin and madness shone in his green eyes.  
Lois paused at the stairs, though she didn't turn around. "Doesn't matter. A real friend would have waited nonetheless."

"For how long, huh?" His tone of voice was lower, but still highly aggressive. "Until we were old and gray?"

She turned slightly his way, frowning. "Forever, if need be. Because if he didn't tell you... you surely didn't deserve to know."

"Do you know?"

"No. And I don't care. Clark is Clark and you should have been happy to be considered his friend." Lois hurried away, not liking the thought of being alone with a crazed Lex Luthor, specially after the vision she had.

If Lex had a reply to her affirmation, she didn't hear it. And had she stayed long enough to see his face, she would have been more concerned about his attentions than she actually was.

xxx

Lois stumbled into her small apartment, throwing her keys in the bowl by the door.  
Tired couldn't possibly begin to explain how she felt at that moment. Her muscles ached, her legs were weak and her head too light. Her eyelids drooped and her shoulders hunched. There wasn't a single spot in her body that wasn't screaming for sleep and simple unconsciousness.

And all because a stupid crystal with too much opinion and too little common sense had decided that visions and flashbacks and whatever it was she was seeing at random times was her priority number one. It was like living with the General once more. Only worse. Much worse.

Lois dragged her body and dropped it on the bed, shoes and jacket still on. The covers remained pulled up and she didn't even consider turning them down. Deeply, she breathed, willing the stress and exhaustion to wash away. Just when she thought her mind and body were ready to fall into peaceful unconsciousness, the edges of her vision blurred with color and she was transported to another time and place.

She saw the Kent farm and the barn. It was nighttime and silence seemed to reign absolute. That is, until she heard some strange commotion coming from the bar. Fast as her legs could run, Lois made her way to the front doors of the red barn and burst in, uncaring of noise of subtlety. She could see and move and explore, but she was never seen, heard or managed to interfere.

Of all the strange conjectures her brain had the time to explore, Lionel Luthor and Jonathan Kent in a fist fight had not been contemplated. Actually, it was more Mr. K throwing Lionel around. It seemed Luthor wasn't even trying to fight back. Clark's father was shouting something about protecting a secret and Clark's name was mentioned more than once.

Whatever it was that Clark hid - with his speed and weird healing abilities - it scared her to think that Lionel might have known.

Light shone from outside, briefly illuminating Mr. Kent's face. He was breathing hard and sweating, his face contorted into anger and near desperation. Lois could understand his need to protect his family. That was the kind of man Jonathan Kent was. But his face, so calculating, showed her a part of the man she had never seen.  
A shudder rose up her spine.

Jonathan stumbled out of the barn, leaving Luthor to quietly scurry away. And that was the exact moment that she realized just what this vision was. Mr. Kent wore black suit pants and a white dress shirt, quite different from his usual flannel and jeans. He was breathing too hard and if she was not mistaken, Clark and Mrs K were just now coming back from the Talon.

This was the day Jonathan Kent died.

Tears blurred her vision and Lois felt a tight fist around her heart. She had been showed so much by the crystal. Had witnessed strange things and impossible things. But never had she seen something she was absolutely sure had really happened. Until now. Until she followed the man she had come to consider as a second father and saw him falter and fall into his son's arms.

She wanted to scream, to run to the small family and change the way things went. She wanted to find a way to be heard. All her previous attempts, though, had been in vain. Lois was not in the past. She was simply a spectator, having her heart broken by the Silver Screen.

It wasn't fair.

Her knees gave out and touched the dusty ground. A sob stuck in her throat and Lois finally cried all the tears she had been too sorrow-filled to cry that day in the hospital, when Chloe had given her the news.

The scene faded and Lois found herself lying in bed, curled into a tight self-embrace. Her presence at the barn moments before had been virtual, but her tears and sadness were very much real.

_What was all these visions for?_

* * *

More mysteries, more doubts and some clues for what's to come. Review!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/C: **More here. I'm posting 2 chapters at once, because I promised a new one on friday and forgot to post.

Your reviews are always wonderful to read. Questions and doubts are always welcome to the good development of the plot, so don't hesitate!

* * *

**CHAPTER 7:**

* * *

Chloe came in later.

She had been following a story outside the Planet all afternoon and had decided to stay away longer afterwards so she'd be able to avoid her cousin. Since Lois' encounter with the crystal, she had been trying to be nicer and more understanding at the office. It was hard, though, and Chloe had felt the need to keep her distance, lest she hurt her cousin more by being closer than her jealous heart would allow.

In fact, excluding quick encounters in the morning or at their desks at work, Chloe had barely seen Lois since that day.

She dropped the keys, kicked her shoes and placed her bag on the counter. The lights remained off, lest she wake Lois, who was probably already asleep. She was kind of hungry, but a quick perusal of the refrigerator showed nothing that was edible and required less than twenty minutes to prepare. Chloe felt too tired to devote that kind of time to a meal.

The refrigerator was just closed, when she heard a sob coming from behind her. Chloe pushed the door open again, illuminating her surroundings with a week light. There was not much visible, but she saw what she had needed to see: Lois. Her cousin was curled up and her shoulders shook with intense sobs. Closing the cold door again, she made her way to the sobbing woman. No hesitation and over-thinking was involved in the decision to sit on the bed and embrace her cousin. No matter how estranged they had become, they were still family.

Lois continued crying, unable to respond to Chloe or unaware of her presence. Long minutes they remained like that, side by side. Lois, oblivious and sad. Chloe, worried and unsure of what to do but hold her cousin close.

_What had happened?_

Lois cried herself to sleep. And this time, she really slept. No dreams, no visions. Nothing but comforting blackness and blessed rest. And Chloe slept right beside her, a hand on her shoulder. All animosity temporarily forgotten.

xxxxx

Chloe frowned, eyes still closed by sleep, as her surroundings become more real than her dreams. Light was coming in from the window and some sort of residual noise wafted up from the morning crowd at the Talon. She stretched, thoughts and memory not quite well formed so early in the morning. _Was there something she was supposed to be doing?_  
It wasn't until she actually opened her eyes that the events of the previous night fully dawned on her tired brain. Lois!

Quicker than she had imagined possible not five seconds before, Chloe jumped from the bed and swiftly glanced around. Her cousin wasn't in bed, or by the small kitchen. She was considering the possibility of Lois having already departed for work, when she noticed the very silent and very still form of Lois Lane sitting on the couch, holding a yellow glowing crystal in her hands.

"Lois?"

At first, she didn't respond, didn't even move. By the third time her name was called, Lois finally seemed to react. She kept her shoulders hunched and her knees hugged close to the chest, but her head came up and her green eyes made contact with Chloe's worried gaze.

"Are you okay, coz?"

Lois glanced down at the crystal again, thumb caressing the smooth surface and then she returned her gaze to Chloe's.

"No."

Feeling her heart gradually returning to its normal rhythm after the adrenaline rush, Chloe approached the couch and sat at the other, unoccupied end. Her vitals may have been tempered, but her worry was far from controlled.

"What happened?"

Lois sighed. A deep, long, straight from the heart sigh.

"You'll think I'm crazy."

After all she had seen, Chloe could safely tell her cousin that nothing she said or did could possibly lead her to believe such a thing. Specially if the crystal was somehow involved. But Lois had no idea that her baby cousin was in the know. Lois had been kept in the dark always. How to explain all these years of lying. Where to begin?

"Lois, I..." She couldn't. Chloe couldn't find the words or choose what it was exactly that she wanted to say. Should she start at the beginning? Should she sum it all up? What about Clark's secret? How to tell any of it, without exposing her best friend and the secret she swore to protect no matter what?

She was at an impasse.

So, the blond cub reporter chose not to say anything. It had been Lois, after all, that had once told her that people kept secrets for a reason. She could offer her support and her ear, without going into those grey areas.

"Tell me, Lo. We could always tell each other anything". She almost said _everything_, but that would have been too hypocritical of her. "I'm here. I'm listening."

Lois looked at her cousin, gaze searching for doubts or judgemental streaks in Chloe's green eyes. She knew her baby cousin was brave and had seen too much during her time at Smallville - land of the weird and unexplained -, to be really skeptical.  
But how do you trust someone, who has once burnt your skin, with your injured hand?

There was no one else, though. No one else to listen.

"I..." For days, she had lived with the visions and the sleeplessness and the feeling that a bigger picture was just beyond her grasp. Her understanding. She had wanted to tell Clark, to confide in Chloe, to call the General and disappear in a corner of the world for a couple of months.

The words, however... the words were simply not there.

"I don't even know how to say it. What to say!". Chloe heard her own thoughts echoed in her cousin's insecure admission and for the first time in a long while, she felt connected with Lois again. Like they were family. Like they could face the whole world if need be, as long as they had each other.

"You know... Once, a little after I got here, Clark, Pete and I were in the loft, having a slumber party. It was before the Lana melodrama and all the complications love and sex brings into life." Lois hugged the crystal to her chest and laid her head on the backrest of the couch, listening attentively.

Chloe sat on the couch as well, allowing her eyes to see beyond the white ceiling and into the night air of that day in July.

"Clark was taller than us by that time. He always seemed to be taller than most." She laughed. "Mrs Kent once said something about him always growing too fast and reaching for the moon." The laughed melted into a smile and Chloe closed her eyes. "Clark and Pete were teasing each other, daring the other to do stupid things like stand on the windowsill and howl to the moon."

Lois laughed, imagining the boy Clark had been - the same boy she had seen cry on the loft, covered in blood - happy and carefree and doing things Mr. Kent definitely wouldn't have approved of. How could time move so fast and rob them of this simple happiness?  
"So, it was late, Mr. and Mrs Kent were probably ignoring all the ruckus we were making and Pete has this great idea." She said it with amused sarcasm and Lois laughed again. "So, he convinces Clark to climb onto the roof and do Tarzan, to see if he could be heard all the way to the Hubbards"

"Yeah... great idea."

"I remember laughing and thinking there was no way that Clark would do it. He was going through his super clumsy phase, with legs and arms too long for his body and he was very reserved. Calling that kind of attention to himself was against his nature... And he was afraid of heights."

Lois again saw the boy falling over his feet and being laughed at by all but Lana Lang.

"But lo and behold, there went Clark, over the hay bales and onto the roof, through a small door near the storage area. He kept losing his footing and Pete was laughing. The minute Clark disappeared and we heard his footsteps over our heads, I stopped thinking it was funny."

_Pete! Maybe this was such a good idea. He's gonna get hurt!_

"Pete didn't seem worried. But I was. My heart was racing super fast and I wanted to go

over to the house and call Mr. Kent. Clark was my best friend and I didn't want to lose him."

"What happened?" Lois had also sobered. Logically, she knew that Clark was okay and the story couldn't possibly have a sad ending. Logic wasn't working so well on her worried heart, though.

"He lost his footing and we heard a big thud. I think I screamed. He probably tried to get up, because next thing we knew, he was falling through the roof, almost on top of us. Wood shards were falling with him and I swear time slowed down. I wanted him to stop falling. I remember desperately wishing he would just stop."

"And you know what, Lo? He did stop. A few inches before he hit the ground, his body slowed down and like, hovered for a millisecond. When he finally fell, he was still winded and disoriented, but he was completely unharmed." She shook her head, almost amused at the thought her 12 year old self had had. "I remember thinking that I had done it. Stopped time and saved Clark."

"Did you?"

Chloe frowned and opened her eyes, glancing at Lois again. Her cousin didn't seem to ask it with the conviction of the improbability of it. She seemed to actually wonder if it had been possible that she had achieved the impossible; that Chloe had, somehow, slowed down time.

"No... I don't think so, at least." She sighed. "It was just perception, Lo. But to me, at that time, it felt real."

"Maybe it was real."

"Lo?" Her cousin didn't answer. "Look, coz, I told you this story because... because..."

"I'm seeing things..."

Whatever it was Chloe meant to say - and it is possible she didn't know it herself -, it was lost when Lois spoke these words.

"Seeing things... Seeing how?" She sat up and faced Lois. "I mean... do you dream or actually see and what is it you see?"

Lois shrugged and seemed to shrink back into herself, her position closely resembling a ball. "I dream and then sometimes, I have these moments when I stop seeing reality and see something else."

"And what do you see?"

"The past, I think. But I'm not really sure if these visions are real." Lois shrunk herself further, something Chloe hadn't thought possible. "Last night, I think what I saw was very real..."

Chloe placed a soft hand on Lois' shoulder and chose to give her support silently. Lois turned her head and met her cousin's gaze and the sadness in her eyes made Chloe shudder.

"Last night... Last night I saw, I think I saw..." She sighed deeply and momentarily closed her eyes. When she opened them once more, tears were shining through. "I saw the night Mr. Kent died."

They say that sometimes, silence can be louder than any noise and Chloe had seen firsthand how very true that was. This instance, though, the silence was not loud. It was exceedingly quiet and much more oppressing. Lois' words hung on the air around them and they seemed to drain the oxygen right out of the air.

_I saw the night Mr. Kent died..._


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8:**

* * *

Lois remained sitting, legs folded before her and arms embracing herself. She watched as Chloe paced back and forth, paused to glance her way, and then resumed pacing. No words had been exchanged since her confession. And frankly, Lois had already desisted from being self-conscious and was now getting impatient.

"Chlooooeee..."

Chloe stopped abruptly and sat back down beside her.

"I'm sorry, Lo. I believe you. I really do. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around this and trying to find the right words to tell you..." The short blonde bit her lower lips and looked away.

"Tell me... tell me what?" It was the most alert Lois had been all morning.

"Lois..." Chloe breathed in deeply and finally met her cousin's questioning eyes. "I can't tell you everything, because there are some things that are not mine to reveal. And because... well, doesn't matter." She reached a hand and placed it on Lois' bended knee.

"Tell me what you can..."

"The crystal has a will of its own."

Lois rolled her eyes and unfurled herself from the tight ball she had been moments before. "I knew that already."

"And..." Chloe sat back like her cousin had done, pushing her back on the cushions. "And supposedly, it only _acts _if it becomes necessary. If destiny falls off track. Or something to that effect."

"Destiny?" She sounded incredulous. _Really?_

"I know... sounds crazy. But trust me, weirder things HAVE happened."

"Okay." Lois frowned. "How?"

"I have no idea."

"What do you know?"

Lois saw Chloe opening her mouth to speak and then the room dissolved into nothing. She glanced around and saw only darkness. And then, she saw Chloe, with Alicia - Clark's Alicia! - hiding behind a bush. Lois approached their location and leaned forward to see what it was they saw.

And in all his primary colored glory, Clark appeared in a blur, just in time to catch a racing car from crashing onto the ground. He held it like it was nothing - like he could break it in half with his little finger - and softly placed it back with its four wheels on solid ground. What came next was lost as real Chloe appeared before her again, worried face focusing on her.

"Lo!"

"Don't shout, Chlo. I can hear just fine."

"What just happened?" Chloe bend her head sideways, worry being replaced by inquisitiveness. "You saw something again... didn't you?"

Lois nodded.

"What did you see? Lo?"

It was Lois' turn to worry her bottom lip. "I don't know if I should tell you."

"Why?"

"Because I see things and if half of them are true, I shouldn't go around disclosing them to the world."

Chloe nodded, things beginning to make so much more sense.

"First time I saw the crystal, it was on the space that connects our desks. I had seen crystals that looked a lot like it and I grabbed it and left." Chloe didn't say where she had gone upon leaving the Planet and Lois realized it was not the time to ask.

"Did it show you anything?"

"Yes... you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. I was waiting for... well, I was waiting and then, all of a sudden, it started working like some sort of projector and it showed me you. Only it wasn't you, per say."

"Who was it then?"

"No, you misunderstand. It was you. But you seemed older. Your hair was brown and had a different cut, you were wearing reading glasses and... just older. Not old, but older."

"Okayyy... and?"

"And nothing. You were reading the _Planet _and talking to someone I couldn't see. You..." Chloe hesitated, not sure how much information could turn out to be too much information.

"You were wearing a men's shirt and a wedding ring."

"Okay. What else?"

Chloe felt confused at Lois's quick dismissal.

"Well, nothing. You faded away. After that, I saw some other images that didn't make much sense. Some people I knew, some I didn't. But all that the crystal showed seemed, somehow, to be from the future."

"Strange..." Lois contemplated the entry hall, seeing beyond it.

"Strange? Why? Weren't we talking about you seeing things? What could possibly be strange after that?"

"Uh? Oh, yeah. Sorry." Lois looked back again. "It's just that nothing I saw seemed to be from the future, near or far. It felt more like the past... like yesterday, with Mr. Kent."  
"The past?" Chloe thought for a moment. "What if the _destiny_ that got screwed up with was in the past? And showing you things and making you take a mini vacation in la-la land was all part of the crystal's master plan to put us back on the right track."

"I don't know..."

"Can you tell me anything of what you saw, maybe something to do with me, so we can verify if that something really happened?"

Lois contemplated all the gamut of visions she had experienced since acquiring the crystal from Chloe's desk. Though she held very few doubts that Chloe was very well acquainted with Clark's uniqueness and troubled past, she was not ready to risk that small chance of being wrong. So few of her visions were of Chloe without Clark.

"Well... I saw you in Smallville High. The halls were deserted and you were lurking about. And then there was Lana, frozen."

"Frozen?"

"It's not like she was suddenly turned into a popscicle, but it was almost like she was paused. Like a doll, kinda."

"Oh my god."

"Okay, I didn't say all the visions were real. Probably very few of them ar..."  
"No, no. Lois, you don't understand. That did happen."

"Oh."

"Lo, in wide terms, with no specifics you are uncomfortable with sharing, what was the first thing you saw? Because, I saw you first and foremost and we think that the crystal meant to fall into your hands all along, so maybe..."

_We?_

"I'll let that 'we' slide for now. And actually, the first thing I saw was nothing."

"Nothing?"

"It was all dark. But not like the lights had been turned off. There was no up or down and light or even feeling... And then I heard it. It was a couple, arguing about some decision. They seemed so troubled."

Chloe frowned and tried to place such a memory.

"Do you see one particular person or group more than others?"

"Mostly, I see people I know. You, Clark, Ollie, Lana, Mr and Mrs K. Even Lex."

"Anyone with a particular higher frequency?"

Lois sighed.

"Clark."

And then it was Chloe's turn to sigh.

"You know, don't you. Maybe not the whole story. Maybe not even too many of the details. But you saw Clark do things you couldn't normally explain. Didn't you?"

"Did you?", was Lois' answer.

"Yeah."

There were many answers she might have expected from the usually tight-lipped Chloe, but not such a straightforward affirmation. Both cousins stared at the other, wondering how much the other knew and how possibly they could confirm any of it without risking exposing it all.

"This is quite an impasse. Right?"

"Tell me about it." Lois sighed and glanced around, feeling the awkwardness of the moment.

"This is why you are mad at Clark. Because he didn't tell you." She turned back to her cousin, who looked at her with pointed eyes.

"No! Of course not."

"Really?"

"I didn't expect him to bare his soul and all his hidden secrets. I'm sure he has a lot of reasons for being paranoid and closed-off. But he knew something important about what was going on with me and the crystal. I deserved to know at least that. At least the bare minimum, so I could figure out what the hell the piece of rock wants from me!" The speech started low and resigned, but grew in intensity and volume.

And, as it seemed to do whenever she questioned the crystal indirectly, the said piece of rock responded. It glowed red and then blue and then an awful shade of purple it had never displayed before.

"What the h..." Lois carefully dropped the crystal onto the coffee table and grabbed Chloe, pulling her away. "Last time it started glowing so fiercely, I ended up in a semi coma."  
Chloe drew back voluntarily after that.

Anxiously, they watched, prepared for the light to burst and hurt them somehow. Except it didn't. The purple light remained, but an image appeared in the midst of it. When it became clear, they saw that it was Lois, exactly as she was then, save for the clothes she wore.

"Lo?"

Lois didn't find the words; she was too much transfixed by the image of a Lois Lane, stumbling, blood gushing from her stomach.

"Lo? Is that...?"

The projection faded, leaving only the purple glow.

"Is that what went wrong? Do I die? Or is that what was supposed to happen and didn't?" Lois' voice wavered, proof that her body was slightly trembling.

Chloe's eyebrows rose, stricken, then fell as her brow crinkled. It was turning out to be quite a puzzle and the connected pieces didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense.

"No... No." She averted her gaze from the crystal and focused on Lois instead. "Lois. You said that the things you were seeing happened in the past... But I saw things, too, and they were from the future."

Lois still had her eyes fixed, almost as if she was unable to look away. Her face remained expressionless; there were too many feelings swirling within her and she didn't know how to feel.

"So, you are not supposed to die. Not just yet."

"What else did you see?" Chloe didn't like the way her cousin's voice sounded.

"First, I saw you." Chloe stepped in front of Lois and tried to block her view. Unfortunately, Lois was considerably taller than her. "Then I saw Clark. Older, too, like you seemed to be. And then I saw myself."

"What were you doing?"

"Talking to the computer. I... I was trying to find you and I was crying." That managed to discompose Lois enough to draw her attention back to Chloe. "And then I saw what looked like a funeral. You and I weren't there. But Ollie was and other people I know. They were all sad and crying."

"I died, then..."

"No! No... we can't be sure it was you!"

Despite Lois' night of restful sleep, she was still tired, had bags under her eyes and looked pale. But now, Chloe noticed, she seemed determined, too, and she wasn't sure that was a good thing.

Lois sidestepped Chloe and snatched the crystal from its resting place on the coffee table.

"Show me what I need to see."

It had never worked like that before, but maybe she hadn't been asking the right questions. Either way, the crystal suddenly glowed and Lois found herself staring at another Chloe Sullivan. The woman she saw was wearing cargo pants and a short boy cut. She didn't look particularly older and still her hard countenance spoke of too many hardships for only twenty years of life. Also, the other woman was armed.

Heavily armed with archaic weapons that glowed green.

"We stand and fight or we run and hide. Either way, we are nearing the time of our deaths." Her voice, too, was harsh and authoritarian and nothing like the Chloe she knew sounded. "I, for one, prefer to die fighting. But I won't make anyone come with me."

Whoever it was she was addressing remained silent throughout the whole, short speech.

"Our loved ones were taken, killed or worse. Our homes, destroyed. Our leaders have either died fighting or betrayed us. I know why I fight and anyone who comes with me should know as well. Otherwise... what's the point?"

Her last question, softer than all her words before, signaled the end of the projection.

"Lois, what..." The woman in question raised her hand and asked for silence.

"Now show me how we got to that point."

The crystal, again, readily obeyed. Another light shone and they saw Clark, lying still on the broken asphalt, blood and debris scattered everywhere. No one was around and no sound was heard. The vision faded as it had appeared.

"Why Clark?"

It was the wrong question, for the crystal remained quiet.

"How..." Chloe stepped forward to stand by her cousin's side. "How is it supposed to happen... the future ?"

Nothing.

"Why did you choose me?"

Still, no answers. And, then, like a stroke of lightning, Lois realized that it mattered little the end result. It was all in the future and the future wasn't theirs to know. And the past, the things she had been shown so far, they had been lessons, but not reasons or guidelines. What she need to figure out now was what she was supposed to do. If she was supposed to do anything at all.

"Show me what you want me to do."

The crystal did glow, then, very bright. And when the light faded a bit, all they saw was a reflection of themselves, as they were at that moment. They moved and were followed by their respective images. It was them, live streaming and all.

Lois turned to face Chloe and the vision disappeared. "That was more bizarre than all the other visions put together."

Chloe nodded in agreement. "What do you suppose it means?"

"Simple... we are not supposed to do anything... we are already doing it."

"But Lois, we're not doing anything but walking in circles trying to figure out something the crystal just told us is not ours to know! It showed you hurt and Clark dying and me, like some revolutionary rebel and let me tell you, Lo, those green rocks on those weapons… not a good sign!"

Lois smiled, calm and collected in a way she hadn't been for days. "I understand your need to act, Chlo. I am a woman of action, too. But let's face it. This is a puzzle we will never see the whole picture of."

Her blond cousin snorted. "I was thinking the same metaphor some time ago. Very fitting. And very frustrating." Chloe sighed, staring at her cousin's calm face. "Aren't you worried? Aren't you scared?"

Whatever else they were meant to say or do was halted by the inexplicable disappearance of the crystal, right out of Lois' hand.

"What the..."


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9:**

* * *

All the way over Metropolis, in the second story of a building, which bore the pinkish sign of _**Isis Foundation**_ on the front, another woman suddenly stopped in her tracks at the sight of the mysterious crystal, resting innocently on her desk.  
She didn't hesitated a single moment and picked it up, willing it to show her anything. Lana Lang felt frustration building within her as the crystal remained clear, still and unresponsive.

Refusing to feel defeated for its inactivity when the crystal had presented itself to her voluntarily, Lana placed it back on her desk, determined to make it work. She justified her actions, rationalizing away the potential danger the alien crystal might be trying to warn them about. Ignoring it as Clark seemed determined to do was not the answer.

Lana never stopped to think of herself as being potentially dangerous as well.  
Just as she turned away to grab the portable scanner she kept in her war room of ever seeing eyes, the reflection of light against the wall caught her attention. Slowly, she turned around again, almost cautious in her motion. And sure enough, the crystal, so inactive moments before, glowed brightly in red and blue. The lights danced around themselves and were quite awe inspiring.

Lana swallowed hard and considered her next course of action. Touching the crystal seemed a bad idea. It had failed to work before. Chloe had mentioned that she had tried, unsuccessfully, to will the crystal to show her what she wanted to see. Still, unable to think of anything else to try at the moment, Lana stepped closer and thought of herself.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then, in a burst of white light, the crystal projected an image, like it had in the barn that first day. Startled, Lana saw herself fighting off a man with skilled precision. Her hair was curly and much shorter than she sported now and her clothes were all leathery and black. She looked like a vigilante. And a mighty good one at that.

A smile flourished upon her lips.

If this was some sort of future, Lana had nothing but good things to look forward too. Being a woman capable of being an equal to Clark's hero side was a dream come true and all Lana had wished to aspire since learning of Clark Kent's powers.  
The crystal wasn't done yet, though.

The imaged of fighting Lana dissipated and in its place, there appeared a bridge, with long iron cables holding it in place. And again, there she was, same hair and clothes, standing alone over one of the columns of the bridge. There was an aura of loneliness around her and this fact was confirmed by the silent tears running down her face. No sign of Clark at all.

Just as the thought of her ex-boyfriend flashed through her mind, the crystal emitted another burst of light, changing the scenario once more. And this time, Lana was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was Clark, flying! He landed in through the open window of an apartment she didn't know. He was wearing the bright colored uniform they had seen that day in the barn and held several food containers in his right hand.

Something in the apartment caught his attention and he smiled fondly. The sight of that smile made her heart ache in a way it hadn't ached in a long time, because that particular smile hadn't been directed at her for much too long.

"Lo!" He called out and the name tightened the fist around her already aching heart. "I know you are mad at little old me, but are you really going to make me eat this pizza, all the way from Italy, by myself?"

Lois suddenly popped into the scene, eyes narrowed and at the same time straying. Whatever her issue with Clark was, the food seemed to be temptation enough.  
"Hand it over." She grumbled. And even as the woman assured Clark that he was still in the doghouse for his 'stunt' earlier - whatever that had been - Lana could see the love and easy companionship these two shared. It was so widely different from her own relationship with the same man. So very different. When Clark stole a kiss, before changing out of his costume in a swirl of color, no doubt remained about the status of this relationship.

And even if Lana had been inclined to dismiss the crystal's showing as flights of fancy and not in any way linked to the future - which she wasn't, unfortunately - Lana couldn't deny that scene. Her hopes for Clark and their future happiness finally broke into pieces too jagged and too plenty to ever be fixable again.  
Clark wasn't hers. Hadn't been for years and it was time she finally admitted that.  
Looking upon Lois' treatment of Clark, with fury and love all mixed together, made Lana regret the past few years and her never ending streak of bad decisions, which ultimately led her to this sad conclusion. And, regret, she had long since learned, was a bitter, bitter thing to taste.

The light faded and the crystal faded with it, disappearing from sight altogether.

xxxxxx

The shiny white ball rolled smoothly over the green carpeted surface of the pool table, nudging its blue companion, before striking a wooded corner. The other ball, dispersed the extra energy received and slid to the opposite direction, falling into the netted abyss.

Gabriel Grant rose from his bent position and briefly smiled at his partner.

"Really, Lex, the way you fret over my new position, it almost seems like it is your head on the employment chopping block. I told you I'm doing fine."

Lex Luthor had been too well taught to really believe the best of people and it showed in his treatment of the world. Gabriel, however, was his last chance at companionship, an idea deserted since his estrangement from Clark. How could he not worry that some busybody of a reporter would dig deeper than they should?  
"You are my friend, Gabriel. I worry like an older brother".

Somber, Grant accepted the compliment in that sentence and cued the white ball once more, aiming for another colored ball perfectly poised to fall. Thoughts in his mind prevented his complete concentration, though, and he ended up missing the mark.

Lex took his place near the lead ball and arranged his shot so as to take down at least two balls down in one swoop. Sometimes - he pondered to himself -, Gabriel lacked ambition. Lex did not miss.

"So tell me, are you yet regretting Lois Lane?"

Grant laughed. "Not at all! She has fire and great potential. I truly think she'll be a great reporter one day."

"And that is exactly why you should keep an eye on her... and your distance. That woman is too curious and too reckless. I don't trust her at all." What Lex failed to mention and Grant simply didn't know to ask, was how the bald man knew Miss Lane and why he detested her so. Luthor seldom spoke of Smallville as more than the place the mansion was situated.

"I don't know... there is something about her that draws me in... she has such fire and passion. I would love to see her display that outside the newsroom." Grant nodded, as if conceding some point to his own thought process. "It is true, though, that she has been acting strange. And I even saw her with a crystal once, looking like she was close to unraveling some sort of mystery. If the crystal had been round, I would have worried!"

"Probably your mind playing tricks. A crystal? Probably a paperweight." Gabriel shrugged then, conceding to Lex and his logic.

"Better stay away..."

Gabriel Grant heard him, but the temptation of what he perceived as Lane's mystery was powerful, indeed.

xxxxxx

Chloe dropped her bag on the kitchen chair and surveyed the place. This room, this house, actually, was as familiar to her as her own home had ever been. If she closed her eyes, Chloe could still see Mrs. Kent with an apron taking a pie out of the oven and smiling their way.

"Chlo?"

She wiped her hair around and smiled when she saw Clark standing by the kitchen door, a curious expression on his face.

"Hey, spaceman..."

Clark rolled his eyes and allowed a small smile as he closed the door behind him.  
"What brings you by? Good news, bad news, no news?"

"Actually, I do have news, I'm just not sure whether it's the good or bad variety". Clark crossed his arms over his chest and frowned, waiting for his best friend to continue. "I talked to Lois".

"And?"

"She told me that the crystal has been showing her things from the past. And, every time it activates, Lois goes into some sort of trance. I'm surprised people haven't noticed how often she vacates the premises in the middle of something or another". Chloe leaned on the counter and studied her friend.

"Ok... The past, you say. What from the past specifically?"

"That's the jig... She sees people she knows. Mostly you."

The way his eyes widened, in that ever recurring mask of utter panic, made her want to drop to the floor and laugh all her worries away. How come she had never noticed how pessimist Clark Kent really was?

"Me? Me doing what?"

"She refused to divulge details - said the things she was seeing shouldn't be said out loud carelessly -, but I'm pretty sure she knows about you, at least partially".  
He gulped. "What did she say about that?"

"Nothing really. Don't know how much she has been shown, but Lois seemed to have digested it without any sort of stomach ache". Chloe had been surprised by that as well. Lois had sounded almost dismissive about it all.

Chloe took the time to explain to Clark all the happenings of that morning. "And then, the crystal took itself on a walk and we haven't seen it since it vanished into thin air back at the Talon".

"So she's not mad at me anymore?", he asked, hopeful, completely dismissing the part where the crystal had gone AWOL... again.

"Not so fast, cowboy. She is still pissed. You omitted, after all, details about the crystal and what was happening to her".

Clark didn't try rationalizing or making excuses. Guilt showed clearly on his face. "I know".

"What happens now? Do we try to find the crystal? Let it do its thing and hope for the best? And are you going to tell Lois everything, once and for all?"

"Absolutely not!" The calm atmosphere dissolved into tension. "You saw what happened to Lana when she found out."

"Lana and Lois are two completely different people!"

"Not when it comes to this!"

"She should know, Clark. She already knows a lot! And we still have to resolve this crystal of destiny mess. I know it supposedly showed us that we should leave things as they are, but I don't trust this to resolve itself unaided".

"What else can we do but wait?"

"Tell Lois everything and try to..."

"No, Chloe. One hasn't anything to do with the other. You are complicating things! We should just focus on finding the crystal and figuring out what it wants!"

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Clark." Chloe answered in a huff. "Things are already way passed complicated. You can't keep all this in the dark forever. You think Lois is just going to forget about the crystal and move on?"

Clark's furrowing brow was part confusion and part stubbornness. Chloe knew him enough to know that Clark's denial was a very long river in Egypt indeed. He huffed and turned away. "Maybe not forget, but do we have to talk about it? Can't we just go back to the way things were?"

"Life doesn't work like that, Clark."

"I know, I know..." He sighed again and seemed to surround himself in a bubble of self-pity. Lois would have rolled her eyes at this bad habit of his.

"Look, Clark, go talk to Lois, ok? Either way, you guys have to talk. This avoiding each other thing is only going to make things worst in the end."

"I... I just don't know how I'm going to... what do I say to her?"

It was Chloe's turn to sigh. "That is between Lois and you. I'm not sticking my nose in this. It was bad enough being stuck between Lana and you."

"So not the same situation, Chlo." He leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed his arms. Clark's face was pensive and filled with apprehension.  
"Oh, c'mon. Lois is not that scary to deal with."

He snorted. "Yeah, sure."

The semi smirk soon disappeared, being replaced by the somber expression he wore so well. "What about you? What did you talk about?"

"We kept trying to communicate without talking about you, which is really hard in our present situation. And..." She hesitated, looked away and bit her lower lip. "And we got the crystal to work, to show us things."

It was clear, by the expression on his face, that he was not satisfied with their attempts to meddle with the crystal. Chloe couldn't understand his reluctance. The crystal was not showing them the same consideration, anyway.

"We saw Lois... bleeding. Dying. And, in another vision, you, dead, in the middle of the street."

Clark squeezed his eyes tightly close and felt a shudder go by his body.  
"What is the point here? What is that _thing_ trying to say!" He yelled, arms dropping to his sides and fist curling onto themselves. "I die? She dies? We all die!?"

"I don't know!" She screamed back. Her shoulder slumped in defeat. "I don't know", she whispered.

"Why Lois? Why her?" A hand combed his hair back, making the locks stick wildly in every other direction. "She can't die. She can't leave m... she can't leave us."

"Oh, no you don't. This is my cousin we are talking about, Clark. And I have watched the Clark and Lana show long enough to know where it leads!" Chloe breathed in deeply and tried to reign in her temper. It wouldn't do to say things they couldn't take back and lose themselves in an argument that would lead nowhere.

"What are you talking about?" Clark looked genuinely confused and Chloe had to sigh at that.

"Look, Clark. You and Lana have broken up. I get it. But you have done that too many times for me to be truly convinced that it's going to stick." She held up her hand to stop his opening mouth from issuing a protest. "And until you are sure yourself, Clark, don't pursue my cousin."

At that, all other emotions fled from her friend's handsome face, leaving only clear bewilderment. That statement seemed to have caught him quite unawares.  
"Lois and... me?" It seemed incomprehensible to him.

"Maybe not yet... but, c'mon, Clark. You can't tell me that feelings aren't growing somewhere in there." She pointed vaguely to his chest and actually took a moment to realize that she had completely lost Clark's attention.

Dismissing the rudeness of it, she glanced around the farm's living room, finally seeing what he had seen. The crystal. It was innocently lying on the coffee table, where it had been around the time Lois had had her second encounter with it. It was still and yet managed to command their attention in such a way that was very imposing.

"What the..." She approached it, almost believing it would disappear. Then, she glanced around and towards the front door, expecting Lois to come through it at any moment. After all, the crystal had never voluntarily presented itself to them before, preferring Lois, wherever she might have found herself in.

"Chlo... Do you think it is here now, because it has already changed what it needed to change with Lois to..."

"Fix what was wronged, as Jor-El explained?" Chloe finished the question. Clark swallowed hard and nodded.

"Or maybe..."

Chloe nodded again. "Or maybe Lois was just the beginning and one of us is its next target."

"What does that mean, though?" He wondered and Chloe was afraid to wonder past that. She had years of experience with kryptonian technology and there was always a shoe, somewhere, waiting to drop.

They touched the crystal, willed it to work. Tried many different tactics their wild imagination managed to come up with. And then some.

The crystal remained unchanging, mysterious and more frustrating than ever.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you to those who reviewed. I plan to post more tomorrow. I just need to polish it up a bit. And, yes, it took a while, but there will be Lois and Clark interaction.

Please continue to review!


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **More as promised. If you spot a mistake, let me know. Next chapter only next week, as the story has been undergoing a rewrite, coz Lois decided not to cooperate. She told me I was keeping her away from Clark in 90% of the story. I agreed.

Thank you for the reviews and to those who read and don't review. I am honored you chose to read my little tale.

[Edit a bit, c'oz a caught some mistakes].

* * *

**CHAPTER 10:**

* * *

Clark Kent was nervous.

Being led to your execution kind of nervous. For the hundredth time, he gulped, willing the knot in his throat to dissolve. His feet couldn't stay still and they fidgeted restlessly on the sidewalk of the Daily Planet, where he had been standing for exactly 43 minutes. Not the had been specifically counting. He breathed in deeply, resisted the urge to do a quick check of the premises with his enhanced vision, and walked towards the revolving door.  
If he didn't do this now, he might never get around to it.

Each step leading to the basement bullpen felt like slow motion. Every person brushing past him, an obstacle. And when at last he caught sight of her long blonde hair, it is very much possible that he forgot momentarily how to breathe.

_She knew._

The thought wouldn't stop tapping in his mind, adding to his quiet desperation. Lois Lane knew he was different. Maybe not the alien part. Maybe not all the powers he had. But she knew. She had seen Heaven only knew what through the crystal.

_She knew._

Would she treat him differently? Look at him with just the tiny hint of fear he sometimes saw in Lana's eyes? Or would she stop seeing him for who he really was and see only the hero, the powerful being, the man with a great destiny, like Chloe? Clark didn't ever want to see Lois look at him as if he was nothing but a stranger.

A freak.

Sensing him, somehow, she turned his way, ponytail swinging behind her. She looked anxious at the sight of him and froze. Was she scared? He couldn't help his own feelings of dread from coloring his perception of her. It was something he realized was happening and also something he was unable to avoid.

He walked down another step and watched for her reaction. It was like seeing a rabbit ready to flee. Another step and she rose from her seat. Clark paused, lacking the courage to face her reaction. His fear made him turn around and start climbing the stairs back up. A hand on his arm stopped him from progression much.

"Clark?"

He gulped, his chest tightened, the drumming in his ears loud and erratic. If he had been a normal person, perhaps he would have fallen to the ground in a dead faint. But he wasn't normal and that was exactly the problem.

"Clark, huh?" Slowly, his head turned, body still rooted to the spot. He caught her eyes with his. "It must be bad", he whispered.

Feeling as apprehensive as she looked, Lois bit her lower lips and shrugged her shoulders. "Not bad... just..."

He nodded. No actual words were necessary to describe how very tense and awkward and dreadful this whole situation was.

"What... I mean, did you come to see me?"

He nodded, willing his frozen limbs to obey him. No such luck. She climbed the stairs until she was one step higher than him and placed herself firmly before him. Her hand never left his arm, fingers clenched around his plaid blue shirt. She held him like she was afraid he might bolt. Like he might disappear.

_She knew!_

"And? Aren't you going to say anything?"

"I'm sorry." He looked down, as if chastised.

"Sorry? For what?"

"Not telling you before."

Fingers clenched tighter and Clark had to look up when he heard her huff. Lois looked none too pleased. Not allowing him to say anything, she started climbing the stairs once more, dragging him with her by the arm. He allowed himself to be led, somewhat bewildered at her reaction.

She was mad because he had apologized?

xxxx

Lois was pissed.

Fuming from the ears, muscles all tense, marching kind of angry. If she had thought that hitting him would actually hurt him instead of causing her own hand injury, he would have been all green and purple right about now.

_Sorry!_

The stupid, stupid boy was sorry for having omitted the greatest secret of all times from her. As if she had somehow been entitled to know and he to tell.

"Unbelievable!"

"Lois?"

"Shut up, Smallville. We need to talk and for the things I need to say, we better not have any curious ears around... or witnesses." The last part she whispered to herself, though it was very probable that he had heard it as well.

Super-hearing and all that.

She led and he followed, until they were at an alley, across the way from the Daily Planet, and completely out of view. It was so abrupt, her stopping, that he nearly ran into her, making it necessary for his arms to help regain her lost balance. Lois turned, still in the circle of his arms and looked at him up close. His green eyes had blue specks in the corner of the irises and they caught her attention completely.

Had she noticed them before?

"L...Lois?"

Enthralled. That was the word. She was enthralled. When had goody two-shoes Clark Kent, start causing her butterflies in the pit of her stomach? Lois gulped, willed her eyes away from his and pulled slightly away. Clark's arm around her waist held tighter, though, and she was unable to make her escape. Her eyes caught his again. Brow furrowed, he was staring intently at her.

"You got mad. And I don't know why. Why... Why are you mad?" He asked, his breath hot on her face.

Was that a shiver up her spine?

Lois couldn't fathom any reasonable explanation for this feeling she was experiencing. His words, though, managed to break through the strange fog circling her mind and remind her that she was, in fact, quite mad at him. Reaching up a hand, she smacked his chest.

And then regretted it.

"Dammit!"

"Are you okay, Lois?" Clark grabbed her hand and focused his eyes on it.

"Okay? How come I didn't break every bone in my body every time I punched you before?"

"I flinched."

"What?"

Clark had his eyes downcast, feeling self conscious with the turn the conversation was taking. Lois watched him nervously steal sideway glances at her. And yet, his arm remained around her waist.

"I... I flinch when someone hits me... so I, well, so I don't break people's bones accidently."

A look of realization dawns on her face. "Like you mom's arm when you were little."  
Her comment elicited a very wide eyed, scared look on Clark's face. She couldn't decide if he looked like crying or if he looked like he might flee in fear. Without realizing it, she rose both hands from their resting position at her sides and gripped his arms.

"I'm sorry, Clark. That wasn't very nice of me to say. I just don't always control what comes out of my mouth. It's mind-verbal filter thing the General always told me I h..."

"No... No!" He shook his head. "No, don't apologize. It's true. That did happen." He paused then, eyes focused somewhere around her forehead. "You really saw that?"

A nod. "I saw you crying, afterwards, when your dad came to talk to you."

_It broke my heart to see you like that._

"_Sometimes, son, we do things we don't mean to. Sometimes, we hurt those we love. But that doesn't mean we don't love them or that they love us less for it_..."

Clark sighed. "I still remember him telling me that."

"Yeah... I know."

"Wh..." He breathed in deeply. "What else did you see?"

"Smallville, that crystal been so busy it would take a lifetime to tell you all of it." She laughed, feeling the tension of the moment diminishing a little. With a little more space available, Lois felt courage welling up inside her. "Can you really catch a flying car with your bare hands?"

xxxxx

Clark was still nervous.

And at the same time, he felt, somewhat... comfortable.

Lois always managed to make him feel normal and uninteresting and simply nerdy Clark Kent. Maybe that hadn't really been flattering at first, but it was one of the things that made him appreciate her so much in his life now. Her knowing about him would have undoubtedly changed the way she viewed him. That scared him. And yet... She seemed the same old Lois, twitchy and sometimes awkward with her comments and incredibly real.

So, when she asked about his strength, he was only a little apprehensive. He nodded. The smile of awe on her face was almost mesmerizing. And scary. Would she consider him with worthship like wonder as her cousin had done?

"And do you really jump so high it feels like you are flying?", was her next eager question.

"Well... technically, I _can_ fly."

"Really?" He laughed at her bright eyes and smile.

"Really." He forced himself not to divert his gaze from hers. "Lois... why were you mad?"

She sighed, a little of her enthusiasm dimming at the question.

"I don't really tell people about me… Those who know, they just, just found out. Pete. And then Alicia and then Alicia told Chloe and really…"

A finger pushed against his lips, halting his speech. "I'm the one who talks too much, Smallville, remember?" She sighed, dropping her hand back to his arm. It almost seemed like she had forgotten they were so close and in each other's arms.

He wasn't feeling so lucky.

When did having her so close translated into a racing heart? It was Lois, for Heaven's sake!

"I wasn't mad at you for not telling me about you, Clark. Chloe asked me the same thing." She sighed and wetted her lips, searching for words and unwittingly attracting his attention to her lips. "I was mad that you didn't tell me what the crystal did and was doing to me."

She offered a half-smile. "And for apologizing for the wrong thing, of course."

"Wrong thing?" He frowned, eyes back on hers. "You really weren't mad at me, because I've kept this secret?"

"No. I don't think it is something you should be divulging either."

"I don't understand you, Lois. One minute you are calling me Smallville and acting like you don't care at all and the next, you are wise and supportive and…" His arms tightened, a fear of her disappearing swelling within his heart.

Clark hadn't realized until that moment, how much he liked having her around. Her brief periods of absence over the years had always felt temporary, like he had been sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that she would always return home.

"Clark, I…"

Xxxxxx

He was holding her close and he was looking at her with such soulful, caring eyes, and there was little else Lois could think of other than kissing him. It was a scary thought. This was Smallville! And yet, the idea itself failed to cause the usual panic she felt in these situations. Somehow, it felt right to be like this with him.

Psychologists everywhere would have much to say about that, she was sure.

This, however, was not the moment for kisses and romantic notions. This was a time for confessions and putting misunderstandings into the past. Slowly, as not to seem like a rejection, Lois stepped away.

"I saw a lot of things that seemed like the past, Clark. But Chloe told me that you guys saw things clearly from the future. And when I asked the crystal directly, its answers were vague." She swallowed hard. "I saw… I saw myself, that day on the dam. I saw the blood and I knew I was dying. Chloe saved me. But maybe… maybe she wasn't sup…"

It was Clark's turn to place his hand on her mouth to stop her ramblings. "No. You weren't supposed to die, Lois. I refuse to believe that."

His head was still shaking when she pulled his hand away. "Listen to me, Clark. Of course, I don't want to die. But if my not dying causes the things Chloe and I saw… that would be worst!"

It was long and filled with suffering, the sigh he offered in return. "Would it?", he whispered to himself. A hand drove the strands of his hair all over the place, as he nervously brushed he longish strands back. He may need a haircut soon.

"Maybe…"

"So, what? You are going to jump in front of a speeding car? Jump off the bridge? Drive to the slums and piss some drug dealer so badly off that he will be glad to put a whole into your head?" With each word spoken, his voice rose in volume.

"No." She remained calm. "I don't have to do anything. That is what the crystal is for. If I have to die, it'll just happen."

"Not if I stop it from happening." His chin was upturned, stubborn.

"And here I was thinking you would be glad to see me go."

"No", he shook his head. "Not glad at all."

"Maybe… maybe that is not what is supposed to happen. Maybe I'm only supposed to learn something from this, so that what went wrong in the future won't happen again."

"Yeah, like being more careful, before diving head first into danger", he snorted, then sobered up once more. "Maybe, Lois. Maybe you not dying is not what went wrong. Maybe you dying is."

"But I didn't die", she was too calm, too resigned. He didn't like it.

"Stupid crystal! I'm tired of questioning the past and the future and what was meant to be and what wasn't meant to be! This is our lives. I'm tired of some unseen force meddling with it."

"Have you considered that you might not like a life which destiny has not meddled with? No Kents as your parents, no Chloe as your friend, no Lana, no Lois Lane crashing into your life." Arms crossed under her breasts, he tilted her head slightly forward and sideways, defying him with every word.

"When you say it like that…", he answered in sarcasm.

"Look, Clark. You don't have to worry about me spilling your secret, ok? I can keep my mouth shut. And we don't have to talk about it either, if you don't want to. I'm going back to work and I'll see you later."

She moved to go and he couldn't really say why, but he grabbed her hand as she went past him. He held it tenderly and she didn't pull it away, as he stared at her smaller hand in his.

"Just… promise you'll be careful, ok?" He stroked her hand with his thumb. "And if you need help or something, just call me. Or yell. I can hear pretty well."

"Ok." The word was a breathless whisper and then she was gone.

Clark just wanted to figure out why his chest ached a bit by her walking away.

Things had gotten so very complicated.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **The mystery continues... we have some chapters still to come to solve this. I just wanted you guys to know I don't intent to leave anything unanswered. One step at a time. So, questions and thoughts are always nice so I can be sure I am tying all loose ends.

Thank you to all those who read and reviewed. You guys are awsome.

* * *

**CHAPTER 11:**

* * *

Lex Luthor had struggled with his dual identity for a long time. And though the two different parts of him had seen victorious battles over the years, they had never been able to win the war, one way or another. In recent months, though, Lex couldn't deny that the darker part of his soul had been gaining dominance. It was not that he found himself to be evil, exactly. But his actions as of late would paint him more as a villain and less as a hero.  
His days of wanting to be a hero were long passed, though.

He closed the file the less than honorable detective he had hired had presented and turned to face one of his personal guards. If he had been a villain in a comic book, they could as well be referred to as minions. Lex was amused by that thought.

"I am a very curious man. And as such, I have to know all the answers." Lex sobered up and his dead serious face made clear just how successful this mission was supposed to be. "Bring me Lois Lane. Leave no traces of who took her and that she was even taken. And be quick about it."

The man, simply known as Krychek - for Lex preferred it that way - nodded curtly and left.

Lois had been acting strange lately and a suspicious occurrence involving dancing lights above the Talon had been witnessed by the hired detective. That nosy reporter was messing with something and Lex wanted... no, needed to know what it could possibly mean.

xxxxxx

It was just as the dawn was breaking through the horizon, that Clark startled awake, that ever present drumming in his ears growing louder and more insistent. He knew not what it meant and where it was coming from, but one thing he was sure of.

Something bad was happening.

And as his own racing heart slowly calmed, the beating falling again to its usual rhythm, Clark realized that the sound he had been constantly hearing, hadn't been a drumming, but the drum of sequential heart beats echoing in his ear.

He frowned at that realization and wondered whose heart it was and what it all could possibly mean. Jor-El had put him through some strange trials in the past and not been forthcoming with explanations either.

He tried to focus and locate the heartbeat's point of origin, but it seemed the sound came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Clark would have to wait and see how it would all play out.

He hated waiting.

xxxxx

Chole stared at the desk across from hers in distaste. The chair stood empty and though the surface of the desk - a veritable mess - might have normally indicated some work had been done on it that day, she knew well how messy Lois could be.

She hadn't seen her cousin last night or this morning, Lois having already left when Chloe had woken up. The only indication, in fact, that she had been there at all that morning, had been the fresh jar of coffee and the dirty mug left inside the sink. Her bed had been made and the shower was still slightly damp. Chloe had naturally assumed she would meet up with Lois at the Planet.

It was almost lunch time, though, and the blond had yet to see any sign of her cousin.  
She was preparing to grab some quick lunch in the form of a sandwich from the vendor across the street, when her boss, Grant, appeared, casting a shadow over her own much tidier desk.

"Sullivan, is Lane working on a piece I should know about? I haven't seen her all morning. Or is she down with something again?" The way he almost sneered at the last question made clear to Chloe how much he had not believed that Lois had been ill during her absence the previous week.

"I haven't seen her or know of any case she is working on. Lois likes to keep it close to the chest." There was bitterness to her tone and she should have felt like a hypocrite to be criticizing her cousin when she herself carried so many secrets. Chloe couldn't hear her own voice, though, and failed to notice it.

Grant, however, heard it loud and clear, and refrained from asking further questions. He sensed a rivalry between the two woman and doubted Lois had confided anything to her cousin.

It was as he was strolling through the bullpen, checking up on other reporters that the memory of his last conversation with Lex came to mind. The other man had been nothing but a good friend to Grant, but something about him still put his instincts on alert. And his sudden interest in Lois had been mighty suspicious.

Grant paused in the middle of the busy basement and frowned.

_Lex wouldn't._

xxxxx

It actually took the sun setting and her return to their apartment over the Talon for Chloe to start feeling like something was off with her cousin's absence. The eerie silence of the apartment as she entered caused goosebumps up and down her spine. Something wasn't quite right.

Chloe placed her key in the bowl by the entrance and that's when she noticed the keys already inside.

"Lois?"

The silence remained. Calmly, for there was no need to panic, yet, Chloe searched the small apartment for signs of her cousin's presence. Everything, however, was exactly as she had left them before heading to work this morning. Except for the fact that Lois hadn't shown up for work in the morning or afternoon.

Absentmindedly, Chloe wandered the apartment, willing her memory to yield some reason or explanation for Lois's absence. Something she was going to do. Something which would have prompted a trip out of town. Something... anything! Still, her memory had little to add. And the heavy weight on her chest made her worry that Lois had gotten into trouble. Knowing about Jor-El, the crystal and this whole 'destiny' nonsense that had been plaguing them of late, Chloe worried even more.

_Where are you, Lo?_

Unbidden, the memory of an older Chloe sitting in front of a computer, crying and searching for Lois replayed in her mind. Her already uneasy emotions went into a downward spiral, coming very close to outright panic. Was this it? Was this what destiny had planed? Or was this what had gone wrong?

Her heart raced and again she focused on finding something off with their apartment. Anything!

As she walked frantically about, Chloe started noticing things her sleep addled morning brain had been too quick to dismiss. First, there was the shower. Though the mirror had been damp before she herself had gotten in, it was much too tidy. Lois was messy with the curtains, the shampoo bottles and her towel when half asleep.

Frowning, she searched more thoroughly, noticing further details that were off. Like the mug in the sink, which still had half the coffee inside. Lois only threw coffee away when it was bad or cold. And, sometimes, not even then. The coffee maker also brought suspicion. The thing had its timer on, a set Lois had never been able to master.

Desperation slowly started bubbling up. The sight of Lois' clothes from the day before inside the hamper, instead of being thrown about, the missing PJ's her cousin had surely worn to bed, the bed itself, sloppily made... Lois was not really in the habit of making her bed, but on the rare occasions she did do it, the result was a military precision the General couldn't have found fault in.

The evidence piled up and they didn't paint a pretty picture. This smelled of cover up and only heaven knew why.

It wasn't all this which made her stomach drop, though. No, it actually took the sight of the mysterious crystal lying by Lois' bed, glowing red, to make her feel nauseous.

_Red couldn't be good, right?_

Something had happened and Chloe was almost sure it was not supposed to happen this way.

With fingers fumbling and air leaving her lungs in almost panic bursts, Chloe hit speed dial and called Clark. Her cousin was missing and the crystal was trying to say something.

_Pick up!_

xxxxx

Lex had been expecting many a result from the simple and the sophisticated tests he had ordered done on Lois Lane. He had allowed his fast paced mind to conjure all sorts of scenarios, ranging from the strange to the simply unexplained. Her association with Clark Kent made her condition even more important. To find, then, that what ailed her was simple and quite ordinary was majorly disappointing.

He stood before her gurney, watching as she continued to sleep, drugs being steadily fed into her system by an IV attached to the back of her hand. It wouldn't do to have her waking up unexpectedly. She looked peaceful, thus, and the lack of the suspicious glare she often sent his way made her beautiful indeed. He had, of course, noticed how naturally attractive she had always been, but there was something about her present state - fragile and still - that made him see her with new eyes.

_Maybe..._

Not now, though. Other, more pressing matter, demanded his attention.

The only thing that remained was the decision of what to do with his patient. Should he have her disposed, taking one more thing from Clark's life? Should he have her delivered back to her apartment, none the wiser? Lex could be a compassionate man when it suited his interests. Her sudden disappearance could also mean that undue attention could - and likely would - be called upon himself. Clark Kent seemed to think him culpable for every wrong thing in the world these days.

That wouldn't do at all.

Convinced that simply releasing her to her own care would wash his hands clean of any involvement, Lex walked away, banishing her from his thoughts completely.

"Get her home..."

xxxxxx

Clark came into the room seconds after Chloe had spoken the dreaded words of Lois' strange disappearance in a swirl of wind. He scanned the place and then turned to face Chloe, acutely aware of the crystal she held in her hand.

"What happened, Chloe?"

"I don't know..." Her lips were trembling, or maybe it was her whole body doing the trembling. "I didn't see her last night, but I thought I had heard her come in late. And then I didn't see her this morning, but I figured she had already left for work. Only she didn't show up at work at all. And when I got home, I started noticing all these little things... the bed, the coffee machine, the clothes, the bathroom, the m..."

"Chloe!" Clark had grabbed her shoulders gently, but steadily, willing her to breathe and calm down. The last thing they needed was to have a panic attack. Both of them. "Have you tried her cell? Called anyone?"

"Yes!" Chloe breathed in deeply. "Yes. I've been trying to reach her all day. And nobody's seen her today at all." She put her hand over his arm, making sure his attention was focused on her words. "This smells of a cover up, Clark. Someone wanted to make me believe Lois left here voluntarily this morning. Someone has Lois and doesn't want us to know about it."

He nodded, taking all of her words in. The tall man took the time to look at all the things his friend had mentioned as being off in the apartment. Having lived with Lois for some time, he came to the same conclusion Chloe had.

"And the crystal?"

"It was here and it was like this, glowing red. It hasn't done anything else."

Now, it was a true understatement to say that Clark hated that piece of kryptonian technology. It had brought him and those he loved nothing but grief. Some things were more important than his aversion to the crystal, though, and Lois' safety was high on that list.

So, without giving it a second thought, he reached for the it and took it from Chloe's grasp. Immediately, the red light changed to blue, and a scene appeared. The ground was concrete, the rain could be seen falling - though the drops made no impact upon them - and a very darkly dressed and very wounded Clark lay upon the hard ground. A sharp, blue glowing knife was buried deep in his stomach.

"You're bleeding", Chloe whispered, entranced by the scene.

For a moment, the scene remained unchanged, making Clark shift uncomfortably. He had no real desire to see his own death play out. Footsteps started echoing around them, fast paced and frantic. Someone was coming. Wide eyed, Clark and Chloe saw Lois appear, her hair wet and plastered to her head. She didn't hesitate on seeing Clark on the street bleeding. In fact, she made a straight line in his direction, dropping by his side, as if that had been her intention all along. With loving and worried hands, she tried to rouse the fallen man, calling his name and suppressing sobs.

Now, both Clark and Chloe knew that if the knife were to be removed and thrown far away, the fallen man was more than likely to heal and awake. Lois didn't know that, unfortunately. Or so they had thought. As if listening to their prompting, Lois pulled the knife away and tossed it across the street, losing it from sight. Wounded Clark showed no reaction.

"Oh, Clark..." The hope Lois' appearance in this scene had brought disintegrated. It seemed the crystal was truly showing his own death. Chloe seemed to come to the same conclusion.

After what seemed like an eternity, Lois persistence was rewarded. Her Clark started to stir. Clearly overjoyed, she next did something that baffled her spectators... she ran and hid behind a crater near an alley.

The perspective of the scene changed to follow Lois and it was practically through her eyes, that they saw the black clad Clark gingerly rise to his feet. The wounds on his chest healing were clearly visible and then, his disappearance in a whoosh, was equally hard to ignore. Curious, Clark and Chloe both turned to look at Lois, to see her reaction. And, though she seemed awed, she didn't seem surprised.

She knew.

And he didn't know she knew.

The scene faded shortly after that.

"Wow... how? Why?" She breathed in deeply. "Why would she hide? We know she knows..." Chloe's question was met with silence and she curiously turned to face her companion. He seemed stuck within himself. "Clark?"

"Clark!"

He then started. "She was alive..." he said. "So that means..."

Chloe nodded, understanding his train of thought.

"You're right. She's okay." The thought was comforting, until another took its place. A much more frightening possibility. "But... she hid", Chloe reminded him. "She hid as if she knew about you and you didn't know about her knowing. Why?"

Sighs all around.

"This is not our future, Chloe. I think... I think this was either what was supposed to happen or what wasn't supposed to happen. But it seems almost impossible that this could be out future...", and here he turned his eyes to the crystal, which still glowed blue. "Jor-El said that _You can take different paths_... The future is not set in stone. But at the same time _destiny must not be tampered with_. Jor-El said that."

"So, we can get there many different ways, but the end result is always the same?" Chloe asked, placing a hand on Clark's arm to draw his attention back to her. "Even if that were true, Clark... how do we know where the finish line is at?"

"We don't."

Chloe sighed and pulled away, clearly swallowing her anger. "Lois said the same thing! And this doesn't help, Clark. Not at all!"

"No, Chloe, listen." He raised his eyes from the crystal. "Lois knew. In the vision, Lois knew and she managed to save my life because of it. If she hadn't known, she wouldn't... She wouldn't have pulled the knife, right?"

"Maybe..."

"So, she knew. But I wasn't the one to tell her. Maybe, what went wrong was not me or her dying. Maybe what went wrong was that Lois didn't find out for some reason..."

"That would have changed everything..." Chloe agreed, though still not a 100% certain that they should be trusting a mysterious crystal, without taking any kind of action.

"Exactly!"

"We don't know, though. Clark, this is all speculation. We don't know anything!"

"That's the point, Chloe. Maybe we are not supposed to know. Because knowing would alter the future too much. But the crystal is fixing things. It showed Lois about me and we don't even know what else it's doing to make sure things happen the way they are supposed to happen."

"And Lois? Where is she?"

"I don't know. But she is important, right? The crystal chose her, because she is important." He glanced at the crystal once more. "She has to be okay..."

It was exactly what she was trying to convey. "But the things we saw... The funeral with all the heroes we saw that first time... Lois' with her stomach bleeding. You... Me as a damn fighter with kryptonite weapons... Maybe none of us end up okay, Clark. Maybe that is the final destination."

"Too many deaths and despair..." Clark ran his hand through his hair. "Too much death."  
His words were hollow in sound, echoing around them in a way that seemed ominous. His voice added to the hopelessness they transmitted. Seemed his life was filled with too much death and despair and Clark was growing weary of it.

_Would it always be like this?_

"I wish..." Anything further they might have been inclined to say or do was interrupted by the crystal's renewed activity. It glowed again, bright blue. Except that, this time, it projected no scene from the future. It actually showed nothing at all.

"Clark?" She became worried as she noticed how Clark's eyes glowed blue as well and that he was quite unresponsive. "Clark, can you hear me?"

Chloe was just reaching to touch his shoulder, when the light grew in intensity, blinding her completely. When it finally faded and her eyes managed to readjust to seeing again, Chloe saw her best friend flat on his back, unconscious.

He wouldn't rouse, no matter what she tried. And worst, she couldn't seem to pry the crystal from his grip.

Not knowing what to do, she grabbed her phone and called Lana. At least then, someone who knew of Clark's secret would be there to help her get through this mess. And soon, for Lois was still missing.

* * *

The proper question is not whether Lois is safe. But what her role is supposed to be and... what caused it to go astray? Thoughts?


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **I humbly apologize for pulling a disappearing act. I have no excuses. This chapter will be preceded shortly by another (that has already been edited and is waiting to be uploaded).

I hope you guys continue to give this a chance and keep leaving me reviews. Lov them all.

* * *

**CHAPTER 12:**

* * *

It was not the sense of loss that made Clark realize he had been unconscious, but the slow awareness of waking up. There was ice beneath his hands and chilly air entering and leaving his lungs. There was a quietness, the unnatural kind, that made you instantly alert. There was someone calling his name.

When he finally opened his eyes to a clear blue sky, there was also a sense of realization, which washed over him and made him notice the cold. For he was, in fact, unusually cold. Confused, he flexed his fingers against the fluffly snow and felt as the congregated flocks drained the little warmth his hands had still possessed. This was such an unusual situation that figuring out why he was cold took precedence over figuring out his location.

Clark took stock of his limbs and his backside, his face and his torso. He savored the different degrees of cold and their effect. He was about to experiment more closely with the snow and uncovered parts of his body when a voice penetrated the fog of his mind and startled him completely awake.

"Smallville!"

All at once, his mind shifted focus and realized that the voice's owner was actually someone he had been looking to find.

"Lois!"

The inactivity of his body melted away and he found himself with feet deeply buried in the snow as he stood upright. Left and right he turned his gaze, half expecting to see the fortress in the distance.

There was nothing, though. Nothing but snow, **c**lear blue skies and Lois's insistent voice calling out his nickname.

"Smallville!"

He couldn't pinpoint the origin of the call, for it seemed to originate all around him and when he tried to move in one direction or another, in a feeble attempt to gain better perspective on the voice, his frustration grew to anger. It seemed the voice was always behind him, no matter which direction he chose.

"Lois!" He persisted another handful of steps in one direction, feet already so cold as to be permanently numb. "Lois! Can you hear me?"

"_Smalville._"

What had been a far out cry was suddenly a close whisper. Clark could have sworn he felt her warm breath against the back of his neck. But when he turned, hope surging in his chest, there was nothing there, only snow, sky and the steady horizon.

"Oh, Lois... what is going on?"

"My son..." Jor-El's voice didn't echo all around him as it tended to do, be it on the caves or the fortress. No... Jor-El's voice sounded almost human and impossibly near.

Clark turned his head to the right, believing it likely that he would find nothing and no one again. He was wrong this time. For there, dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt, hair slicked back and looking young - and too much like himself - was none other than Jor-El.

"Jor-E..." the name died upon his lips.

It was easy to call his biological father by his foreign sounding name. Even those visions, when Clark had walked in the footsteps of Jor-El's memories on earth, had seemed distant and he had felt detached. Jor-El was a computer, a manipulative force, a disembodied voice in the Arctic that liked to command and gave little in return. He was nothing but a memory, an idea. He wasn't real or made of flesh. He didn't have eyes and a proper face.

Now, though, having this vision of a young Jor-El before him, Clak felt all his pre-conceptions fading away. This man before him was real, was there, physically before him. When Clark reached out to touch him, there was a solid arm beneath his fingertips. The eyes that stared back at him were soulful and intelligent. Real kindness - and dare he say, love - shone in their depths.

This wasn't Jor-El. This was his father.

"Father..."

"My son... you are so much grown."

"How... why... what is happening?"

"My dear Kal-El, this was not supposed to happen. You are not meant to be here so soon."

"Here?"

"Listen, my child." A strong hand came upon his shoulders. "Time has been tampered with and that is a very dangerous thing."

"Time... _what is meant to happen_..." Clark met his father's eyes with alarm. "The crystal!"

"Crystal, Kal-El? Krypton has so many, programmed for infinite tasks. What crystal is this you speak of?"

Clark noticed that his father spoke in the same formal language and tone the fortress adopted. Instead of sounding aloof and inhuman as Jor-El, the AI, did, this man seemed wise and deeply caring. Maybe some things could not be programmed into a computer, no matter how advanced it was.

"A crystal has been making an appearance. You told m... the AI of you told me that it was a crystal designed in Krypton and it would only be activated if something with time went wrong."

"If this crystal has presented itself willingly, my son, then something terrible has been made to the natural timeline of destiny."

"And what will the crystal do?"

"Try and fix it. Thus has been the reason for its conception and its design." His father paused and seemed to take a moment to look over his son. "You have grown much, Kal-El. And though it is I you most resemble, I see your mother in the reflection of your eyes."

Clark felt tears brim his eyes. It wasn't until it was said, that he realized how much he had needed to hear it, the love so clearly present in his father's face, voice and touch. He had been sent to Earth by love and not a desire to see Krypton live on.

"Father, I..."

Jor-El shook his head, a ghost of a smile appearing.

"You are here by the crystal's design, my beloved son. It will show you what needs to be done to set time back into its proper motion and prevent the destruction of all existence. Time won't be the same, but it will be set in the same direction destiny intends it to go. Be wise, my Kal-El. Be strong. And always, be kind."

And with this parting words, Jor-El disappeared, like all the projections the crystal had created before.

Had it been real? A projection of a Jor-El from the past, still alive and well, or a creation designed by another manipulative AI that was meant to make managing him an easier task?

Could he trust his words?

xxxxxx

It was like waking up, only much more abrupt and painful.

Clark's eyes snapped open and his whole body shuddered at the pain. It was as unexpected as the cold had been in his dream, vision, whatever that had been. When the excessive feeling he surely was not accustomed to dulled and then disappeared, he took the time to glance around at his surroundings.

He was in the apartment above the Talon, lying on the couch.

Surely he had gotten there somehow, Clark just couldn't remember when or how that came to be. Last he could recall, his body had been in an upright position, while he talked with Chl...

_Chloe!_

He groaned, then sat up, using his fingers to comb his hair out of his eyes. With sight much improved by his new position, he was finally able see that he was not, in fact, alone. Two pairs of expectant eyes were gazing at him. Chloe and Lana.

"What happened?" He felt tires and that made some strange sort of sense, considering the latest experiences with pain and coldness. His voice was raspy, too.

"We don't know." Chloe answered.

"We think it was the crystal." Added Lana.

"It glowed and then you went timber."

Clark nodded.

"I saw Jor-El." He breathed in deeply and leaned forward, bracing both forearms on his thighs. "But not how I expected him to be. He looked real and he spoke like a real person, with emotions."

"What did he say?" Lana asked, voice low.

"That I was not supposed to be there. That the crystal appeared because something bad had happened to the timeline and it was designed to fix it." He focused his eyes in the distance, remembering Jor-El's face. "Father said that time wouldn't be the same anymore, that it would adapt. But that the end result would be restored to its proper place."

"And what result is that?" Lana again questioned, hoping against hope that her own future had not been set in stone.

"Have no idea." And then he sighed. A pitiful sigh he had often let loose in the past. Only now, it annoyed even him.

Annoy...

_Lois!_

"Lois! Has there been any sign of her?"

Chloe was shaking her head. "We tried going over the place, looking for clues. No sign of her phone, either and I can't seem to track it. No one has seen her and there is nothing here that indicates any cases she might be working on." She had begun pacing the small room. "And that stupid crystal has nothing to say that will help us. It just shows you as you are right now when we try asking about Lois."

"Maybe I'm supposed to find her." Clark rose to his feet, completely recovered from his tumble. "Maybe..."

There had to be something he was supposed to see. A clue only he could find or understand. A memory locked away. Anything!

And then, like a switch had been flicked, Clark became newly aware of the drumming in his ears. That constant, rhythmic drumming which had been following him around since Bizzaro had attacked, the dam had broken... and Lois had been stabbed!

Clark couldn't understand why he had ignored the drumming for so long. The sound felt so natural, that he had quite forgotten that it was a foreign sound he shouldn't have been hearing. Unless, he should have, after all.

Focusing all his attention on the sound made it seem louder and more distant than it normally appeared to be. Like the other times he had tried to pinpoint its location, all that Clark managed was to make it clearer. Only this time, the sound made sense. It was a heartbeat.

He sometimes picked up on the heartbeats of those around him. It was natural, like people's breathing. No sound, however, had managed to persist so long and come from so far. And that made it important, he was sure.

Forgetting any attempts to locate the sound, he tried instead to identify its state. As far as heartbeats went, this one was normal, steady. Almost relaxed, like its owner had been sleeping. There was no light echo like Lana's or falterings like his Dad's. Nothing to identify it. Except it was extremely familiar and Clark was sure he had heard it before.

"Maybe?" Chloe waved a hand over his face, their height difference making it necessary for him to bent his head to look upon her worried face. "Maybe what? Where did you go just now?"

"Chloe, remember when I told you that I had this weird drumming in the back of my mind since the dam?"

She nodded, clearly not seeing the relevance of this particular information.

"I'm pretty sure that it's a heartbeat. I can't identify it, but it is very familiar and I think it may be Lois."

"Why?" The question came from Lana, who had her arms wrapped around her midriff and tears shimmering in her eyes.

"What?" Clark took a closer look at his ex-girlfriend. "Lana, are you okay?"

"Why Lois? Why do you think it is Lois?"

Lana's clear dismissal was loudly understood. Whatever was bothering her was not up to discussion. Clark found that, for the first time in a really long time, that poor, defenseless semblant Lana wore so well pulled no heartstrings within his chest.

_When had that happened?_

"Lois died that day in the dam, didn't she, Chloe? She called you, hurt and you came. But when you found her, she was already gone. And then you did something. You brought her back somehow... didn't you, Chloe?"

The secret she had been so terrified of having ousted suddenly seemed much more important that she had ever considered. This wasn't just something she wanted hidden. This wasn't the proof she was as much meteor infected as all the lunatics she had faced over the years. It was more. So much more!

"Oh, my God, Clark!" Her eyes widened and her hand came to rest on his arm, for balance. "She died. Lois died! She was supposed to have died."

And then tears fell freely from her face, because this was not something she wanted to realize. It couldn't be true that her cousin, who she loved and envied so much when it came to journalism, was meant to live such a short existence. Throughout all the dangerous situations Lois had always managed to get involved with, Chloe had, inexplicably, always felt that Lois would be there forever... unchanged and strong and simply there.

"Is this what the crystal is trying to do. Get her killed and restore the timeline?"

"No." There was no question marks or hesitant pauses in the way Lana delivered those words. It was sure and steady.

"No?" Chloe and Clark both turned to face Lana. "How can you be so sure?" While Chloe was close to tears, Clark was serious and attentive. He desperately wanted to believe Lois was not meant to die. But, more than that. He was also sure.

He just couldn't figure out why.

"It didn't kill her that first time. It has been in her possession, showing her things, for weeks now. And it has been in our possession. And all the things it has shown us, have somehow to do with her."

"That is not affirmative proof." Clark argued.

"I... I saw something, too. It came to me at the _Isis Foundation_ and showed me Lois. It was a scene clearly from the future and she was alive."

"But, time is fluid. Jor-El said it himself! What we saw of the future. What was supposed to be or is now the future, how can we trust any of it!" Chloe was becoming hysterical and even though she realized it, it was a reaction she could not control.

"No, Chloe..." Lana said, the tears having dried before falling. "Lois is important to the future. Lois is imperative to the future. Her death is dangerous... would be dangerous."

"How do you know?" Clark asked, voice somber and quiet.

"Because you are important to the future, Clark. I've always known that. And Lois... Lois is part of that. I saw it. The crystal showed me that. Without her, the world would deteriorate to that battle scene the crystal showed you, Chloe."

"You are not making any sense, Lana. How can the future depend upon a single person?"

Lana looked pointedly towards Clark, making it clear what she thought answered her friend's question undeniably.

"Okay, Clark is important. He is someday going to wear a blue skin tight suit and red cape and save the world." Chloe's features were hard and bordering hostile. "But that's just Clark. What about all this, means Lois has to LIVE!"

The long, dark haired woman didn't seem fazed at the outburst, secure as she was in the information she was imparting.

"Because, someday, Lois is going to be very important to Clark and be the rock and compass he needs her to be, so that he can be that hero. Without her, there is no future."

"Me... Lois?"

Clark lost his authoritative pose, arms dropping limply at his sides. It was clearly obvious, how very shocked he was to hear Lana's revelation. And then, for no apparent reason, the drumming grew louder and perfectly clear. Like the revelation was something obvious and something he had already known for some time now.

It was Lois' heart drumming in his year. It was his chest aching at her absence. It was...

Her.

xxxxxxxxx

Chloe watched as Clark disappeared in a whirlwind, scattering papers and unbalancing chairs and lamps in his wake. She knew him to be easily frightened by the words destiny and future, but this young cub reporter was quite certain he hadn't just fled in desperation.

If he left, it was because he had somewhere to be.

_It had to be Lois!_

Secure in the knowledge that Clark was going to find her cousin, somehow, and everything would resolve itself, Chloe turned inquisitive eyes towards her best friend. Suddenly she didn't feel so very worried anymore, but still, the pessimist in her felt she needed to focus all her attention on Lana and the crystal and what it all led to.

"The crystal showed you that? That they were going to be... together?"

Lana nodded.

"Are you okay with that?"

Tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to fall. It was quite clear that she was not okay with that at all.

"I don't know. It feels right... I saw it, that spark between them, right from the start. But... at the same time, I had always hoped it would have been Clark... for me." She paused, diverting her gaze to the wall behind Chloe's head, and pushed a strand of her long hair behind her ear. "That I was meant to be with someone great and not... not alone."

Chloe bit her lower lip. It was true that she understood where Lana was coming from. Recent events, however, had led her to reexamine her life, her dreams and her hopes for the future. She was not the same little girl who had so desperately wanted to be a great and renowned journalist. She was not the same teenage girl who had dreamt of Clark Kent, prom and exposing all the meteor freaks to the world. And she was not that Chloe of a couple of weeks back, who had envied the ease with which Lois had taken to journalism and had felt lost and alone upon discovering she had been no different from all the meteor infected population of Smallville.

Chloe had changed so much and had been unable until that moment to realize that she was no longer happy with her dreams of yore.

"I... I understand you completely, Lana. But sometimes, I can't help but think that we have somehow been so caught up in the past, in the people we used to be, that we have gotten lost."

"Lost?"

"Why am I at the Planet? Why are you still pining for Clark?"

"You love the Planet. It has always been your dream to work there!" Lana sighed and sat on the couch Clark had occupied moments earlier. "And I love Clark. I want to be what he needs me to be."

Chloe was shaking her head, a small smile upon her lips. It was a smile of self-depreciation and amusement.

"I hate working at the Planet. I hate having to deal with these insipid stories that most of the time are fillers that get cut in the end. I hate having to deal with obituaries and staying for the night shift, dealing with crazies no one else wants to deal with." She sat down next to Lana. "I don't like having to help Clark on the sly, without dedicating my best to his side job. And I don't like sitting on a desk all day when I could be doing something great!"

"It's just the beginning, Chloe. It is normal having to start from the bottom and working your way up."

"It's not that, Lana. I am living the dream of a 12 year old, filled with fantasies and distorted perceptions of what it means to be a journalist. I am seriously considering doing something else with my life."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, yet. I guess I have to do some soul searching before I can answer that question." Chloe glanced back at Lana, who had her eyes fixed on nothing, slightly frowning. "Lana... do you really still love Clark?"

The brunette's head flew to the side to meet with Chloe's searching gaze.

"Of course, I do!"

"Really? What is it that you love about him?"

"I... I like that he is always helping people. I like that he worries. I love him, Chloe. I can't imagine my life without him".

The blond once again shook her head. Her eyes never left Lana's, though her friend had glanced away during her answer.

"You hate that he helps people. It makes you feel unimportant and not good enough for him. You hate that he has all these powers and you are completely defenseless. You get annoyed when he hides things from you, because he is _worried _about your safety. You hate that he is a goody two shoes that looks down on us mere mortals".

Lana was looking at her with horror. Not because she was telling hideous lies, but because the truth was too horrid to listen to and because she couldn't bring herself to refute any of it.

"You love Clark like a friend. You like that he will always be there when you need him, even though you hate that you may need him at all. You don't like him very much, though. And I think you are more in love with the idea of Clark and with Clark himself."

The silence that followed was maddening.

Had she said too much? Had she been too off the mark? Would Lana listen - truly listen -, or would she deny it all and pull away?

And even as all these doubts flew through her head, Chloe knew that she was right. She was right about her own dreams, ambitions and career. And she was more than right about Lana and her need to hear it said openly and to her face.

"You really believe that?" her voice was so low and unsure.

"Yes."

They remained sitting side by side, the silence too loud to be bearable and too oppressive to be broken. This moment felt important, like the earth was shifting in it's axis, never again to be the same as it had been before. And neither Lana, nor Chloe, could decide whether that was a good thing, or a terrible thing indeed.

* * *

Next step?


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **Shorter this time, but essential. I'll try to post more next week.

* * *

CHAPTER 13:

* * *

Clark was used to seeing the world in slow-motion as he navigated the long distance in so short a time. It was thrilling, in a way. Freeing. Yet, at the same time, it could be lonely. When he was running - just running for no other purpose than to run free -, and the people were statues around him and the fields stood frozen and no sound echoed, Clark felt utterly alone. Not always. But sometimes.

In the instances that he was not idle, that running meant seconds between arriving on time to stop a truck or save a life, Clark felt nothing but the intense focus of his purpose. There was no thought, no worries, nothing but getting there in time... Wherever he may need to go.

This was such an instance.

Lois Lane was the purpose, her steady heart like his compass and he needed to get there faster than the interval of a fleeting thought.

When reality returned to its normal pace abruptly and speed abandoned him before his destination could be within sight, Clark had but a moment to process it before his knees made contact with the asphalt. He was in pain. Like fire coursing through his veins and pressure ripping him apart from the inside out. He instantly knew what that meant, what that could mean...

_Kryptonite. _

There was kryptonite nearby, sufficient to affect him from a distance and it was right where he need to be, where Lois was. Staggering backwards, he tried to create some distance between the source of his pain and himself. After a few feet, he finally managed to escape enough of the green rock's influence to be able to properly breathe once more. Another few feet and he felt immediately better.

That didn't solve his problem, though. Lois was still out of reach.

Using his x-ray vision and his big ears, Clark located her around the middle of the building before him, lying on a gurney, unconscious. A man, dressed in black and sporting a calm, detached expression on his face, mas unhooking the machines and the IV Lois had been attached to. Angry at himself for not being able to rush in there, Clark continued to watch and listen.

"_Is she ready?" _A voiced asked a second before a female walked into the room. She was wearing the same type of outfit the man was.

"_Yes... We have approximately 30 minutes to get her back to her original location before the sedatives stop working"_, the man replied, as he finished his task and grabbed Lois in a firearm hold.

"_Let's go, then. Cleanup is on its way"._

Clean up, the woman had said. Clark felt his hands curl into fists and his jaw twitch. Whatever they had done to Lois, a cleanup crew had been necessary to dispose of the evidence. He wanted to snap their fragile little necks.

The anger, the violent thoughts... they made Clark pause and frown. He had never felt like this before. This side of him that _Kal_ had embodied so easily, the hidden part of his psyche that felt the need to hurt others. The fact that Lois was, indirectly, bring this part of him out scared him more than those green rocks stocked in the corner of the warehouse he was watching.

It meant he was really capable of those things.

It meant he could, someday, snap.

"You won't, you know..."

The voice behind him startled him so greatly, his head raced to the right at an incredible speed. A man in a black, one piece suit and jacket stood there casually, seemingly preoccupied with him or their surroundings. Clark felt himself grown in height and width.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Rokk".

"That is great, but who are _you_?" His arms came up over his chest and were crossed, in a posture that oozed hostility.

"I am a member of the Legion. I am from the future. I am here to help you." Rokk answered casually, serious but not anywhere near intimidated by his companion's posture. "You know Kal-El. We were not meant to meet quite yet. There was supposed to be a wedding gone bad, a giant monster and whatnot..."

"So... the future?"

"Yep."

Clark felt unusually suspicious of this man and, at the same time, there was no reason to believe he was lying.

"Why are you here? Why do I need help?"

"The future has been tampered with, Kal-El. As members of the Legions and keepers of time, me and my teammates are not affected by these changes. But we see them. And in this case, it was so bad, that destiny was taken off course." Rokk sidled up along Clark and followed his line of sight, which was no longer on himself, but on the vehicle that was driving away from the building.

"What happened? What went wrong?" Clark asked, eyes like a hawk on Lois' unmoving form on the back seat. "My friends and I have been theorizing and tossing ideas, but we have no way of knowing if we are on the right track. And there is a crystal going around being all mysterious..." Clark usually referred to the crystal with disdain and now, though he still didn't like that overrated paper weight, he had to admit it could be helping them in some way.

"Present, past and future are relative terms, Kal-El. In your timeline, nothing has happened yet. But in mine, something did happen and that something, though small in comparison to Earth's size and history, will have such a great impact on Earth's destiny, that we were all taken off the course we were meant to take". Rokk took a moment to look at his hero.

"Lois was taken from the timeline".

Clark looked at him again, eyes wide. Then his gaze immediately returning to the car driving away.

"Lois was later returned, of course, and time seemed to have been returned to it's original path, but it wasn't, Kal-El. Her chemical composition was compromised in a minute way. Small enough to go undetected for some time, but big enough to have devastating consequences."

"What happened?"

"I can't tell you that, Clark, I'm sorry. That would be major spoilers." Rokk shook his head.

"Than what can you tell me?" He sounded angry again, on edge.

"I can tell you that time has been changed many times. Originally, you weren't even supposed to meet Lois until you were graduated from college.. I can tell you that there are many different worlds that parallel ours and that follow different destinies. And I can tell you that time, as it should be here on this world, has already started to mend itself. I'm just here to lend a hand".

"Ok... you are here to lend a hand". Clark glanced his way. "Tell me how".

"Simple. I'm here to tell you one thing. Only one thing". Rokk turned to fully face the man who would become his inspiration. "Don't be afraid of destiny, Clark. It will take where you are supposed to go. So don't worry about the details. Don't dread you will regret where it leads you and don't let it for tomorrow, what you can do today."

"That sound's vague and unhelpful..." Rokk laughed at that, a full blown laugh that echoed around them.

"You sounded like Lois just now". Rokk patted him in the back, careful with the integrity of the bones in his hand and in a burst of light, was gone.

"I know..." Clark whispered to the wind. The car he had been watching had already disappeared from sight, but he could see it still. If these people were really going to take her home, Clark felt it would be safer for Lois if he didn't interfere until they did just so.

_... don't let it for tomorrow, what you can do today..._

xxxxx

Clark stood in the shadows of the alley behind the Talon, imprinting in his mind the faces, the heartbeats and the words of the two people responsible for Lois' return home. They were preparing to leave as quietly and unnoticed as they had arrived.

_Apartment occupied._

_Let's leave her in the backroom. She will be up soon._

And leave her they did, slightly leaning against the wall by the entrance of the backroom, still unconscious. Clark waited for them to leave, before he made his way inside. Slowly lowering his tall frame beside Lois, he took in her features, her closed eyes and every inch of her body, making sure she was really okay. He remembered Rokk's words about her chemistry being altered and that alteration had been left undetected for some time. That thought scared him immensely.

Hands soft and light, he found himself tracing the curve of her face. A strand of her hair was pushed aside and suddenly, Clark saw Lois as if it was the first time all over again and realized just how important she had become to him.

How essential.

Maybe Lana had been right when she had said that Lois would become important to him... that Lois was so important to him. She had always been so resilient, so steady. A world without her seemed so impossible now. Her dying... her being gone, that would be a horrible thing to have to face.

xxxxx

Chloe and Lana were silent, sitting side by side in the old couch. They were waiting and had, by some sort of unspoken agreement, remained silent and staring at the door. Anticipation permeated the air around them.

And just like that, in a scene almost rehearsed, in walked Clark, Lois secured in his arms.

"Clark!"

"Lois..."

Both women raced to the pair, one looking at Clark's serious face and controlled posture and the other running her hand through her cousin's hair and sighing in relief.

"What happened? Where was she? Is she okay?" Chloe fired one question after the other, willing her racing heart to calm down.

"She seems okay and she should be waking up soon, Chloe. I'm taking her to the farm... meet me there?" Clark spoke in a tone that demanded compliance and, at the same time, his last request came off as being insecure and almost desperate. Chloe was both assured and left scared at the things she had yet to learn about this entire situation.

_Would it never end?_

"Ok... we'll meet you there". In a blink, Lois and Clark were gone from sight and Chloe felt the tears sting her eyes as her hair flew about.

"This is going to be okay, isn't it, Lana? She's going to be okay..." Lana embraced her friend from behind, positioning her chin on Chloe's shoulder, and held her as she let go of the stress of the last few weeks and cried.

* * *

_Question... Who thought Lana was a terrible friend to Chloe on later seasons?_


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **My dear readers, another chapter! Thank you to all who keep reading, reviewing and marking my story with an alert. I am terrible at updating, but I am trying my best.

We slowly walk towards the end here, wrapping loose ends and such. I hope the resolution is satisfying to most (can't please them all, unfortunately).

* * *

CHAPTER 14

* * *

Lois felt weak and tired and strangely sore. Her muscles were stiff and just thinking about moving made her cringe in pain. She couldn't remember a single thing that would explain this present state, so that meant waking up, opening her eyes and getting some answers. Sometimes living in Smallville seemed to make actual living so much harder, she thought to herself, as she willed her arms to function and her lids to rise.

A groan escaped her lips unbidden.

"Lois?". Clark's voice was strong and uncertain at the same time. That made her feel irritated for some reason.

Up went her eyelids, heavy and almost uncooperative. At first, her vision was blurry, but as it cleared, Lois couldn't help but focus on the face leaning over her, blue-green eyes silently pleading.

"Smallville...", she licked her dried lips. "Why am I always waking up with you in my face?"

He grinned. The stupid boy had the nerve to grin at her widely!

"Stop that!", she demanded, arms working to accomplish a seated position. She was having mild success at it, when Clark's strong arms and large hands encircled her waist and easily hoisted her upright, nestling her against the sea of pillows at her back.

Lois tried very hard to deny the way her body reacted to the warmth of his hands on her t-shirt covered waist. In fact, she wavered between denial and acceptance. Smallville making her go all gooey inside? Completely new development... well, mostly new and no one would make her admit any more than that. She sighed internally. This could be taken as proof that the ally and all that holding each other close had not been a fluke.

It was a scary thought.

Clark settled in the space beside her hip and leaned much too closely and suddenly, Lois also found that her breathing was being affected by his proximity. Again. Seriously? She gulped and tried to breathe in deeply (such a big mistake, that, when being so near to such a good smelling man... she should have learned her lesson by now) and then decided breathing normally was quite good enough.

"Was it the crystal again? I..."

"Yes". It was apprehension that knocked her off her Clark induced fantasies, though not surprise.

"So... what happened exactly?".

"Lois, you disappeared." She frowned at that. "Chloe called me and told me you were missing from work all day and that when she got to your apartment, it seemed like something wasn't quite right. I found you, but I couldn't come near you and I watched some people talking about taking you back and I decided to follow them, make sure you were really ok. And they brought to the Talon and left and I told Chloe and brought you here, to the farm. I t thought it would be safer."

"You can breathe between sentences, Clark. I promise", she smiled at him and her returned the smile and Lois felt _déjà vu_ in the way they got caught up in the moment.

"That's the short version", she laughed. And then sobered up when she saw him turning serious. "I don't know who took you... Lois, I... I think it was Lex".

"Lex..." Arms got crossed and pillows got crushed in her attempt to gain some personal space back. "Go on."

"I... I didn't actually see him, but I heard two thugs talking about tests. They were going to bring you back home, so I only followed them. I thought it would be better not to interfere... maybe give us the upper hand" Lois frowned at that.

Trust Clark to choose now to start thinking before acting where Lex Luthor was concerned.

"Feels so strange to say that", he sighed. "I wanted to..."

"I know... But you did the right thing", she assured him, her hand rising out of its own volition to cup his cheek. She tried to be discreet in pulling it away.

A hand came up to go through dark hair, making the blue t-shirt colored arm to bulge and Lois was lost again in fantasies. _Seriously?_ Clark's gorgeous and everything - she had always know that -, but _seriously_? When did he start making her lose focus this way, she wondered. He glanced sheepishly at her, like he could somehow hear her racing heart and Lois found he could also make her blush.

Just great...

"Tests?", she tried to get her focus back.

"Yeah. I don't know what kind", he sighed in return. "probably Lex feeling paranoid about..." Lois' hand came up again, voluntarily this time, and settled on his arm.

"He saw me during one of my spacing out moments. He seemed very interested in the why." She frowned, not liking this train of thought at all. "I don't think I want to know", she shuddered.

"You are fine, Lois. I scanned you. No bruises, or anything that...", he trailed off, not wanting to even say the words. Lois understood him though. "Lo?"

She had been spacing out, gaze lost in the distance, while her brain worried about a multitude of possibilities. And then he called her, unsure and quietly. Her eyes focused on his again.

"What is it, Clark?"

So he told her. Told her about Rokk and his strange words, about seeing his father, about Chloe and Lana. Opening up to Lois felt natural, felt right, and with every word spoken, Clark felt himself relaxing and leaning forward again.

"So... This Rokk guy. You think we can trust him?" Clark shrugged, then nodded.

"I think so."

"And what did he mean, _devastating consequences_?". His eyes left hers and shifted around the room, his uncertainty shining though loudly. "Clark?"

"I..." He looked at her again, deep green-blue eyes filled with sorrow making her heart ache. "I think you died".

"So, I'm not supposed to. You know, die. I wasn't supposed to die at the dam?". He shook his head minutely. "But is the crystal doing then? Making it so I won't be taken from the timeline?", she swallowed hard, briefly closing her eyes. When she opened them again, his was still staring intently at her. "How?".

"I don't know. And I think you were right, Lo", he softly brushed a strand of hair out of her face, making the barest of contact with the skin of her cheek and resulting in goose bumps up and down her spine. "I think were are not supposed to know. The future's not ours to know."

She nodded, gazes still fixed.

"Lois, I have been scared to tell my secret to, well... anyone, in what seems like forever. And here you are and you know, probably more than anyone will ever know and...", his breath coming out in a sigh brushed against her lips and still she didn't move, transfixed by the sudden change in topic.

"And Chloe knows, and Lana knows and my parents and Pete and... And just knowing they know makes me nervous and worried and, maybe, feeling like they don't see me anymore. Me, I mean, Clark Kent. Not Kal-El, or an alien, or a super-powered being. Just me", he closed the distance between them even more, his every word a brush against her lips.

"Of course, you're you", she told him, eyes being drawn to his lips, then back up.

He chuckled, increasing the subtle shuddering of her body. "Remember when you told me to save up for a Harley and not waste my time with an ordinary bike?" She nodded. "And I told you, that sometimes, it seemed you knew me better than anyone..."

"And other times, like I didn't know you at all", she finished. His eyes were staring at her and they were fascinating. He was so close and somehow, not close enough.

"Exactly. You didn't know the details, didn't know about me being, well... all, super-Clark", she snorted at that and he grinned. _When had he gotten so close that their noses were almost touching?_ "... but you knew me. You saw me, better than anyone."

"Clark?", she whispered.

"Yes?"

She was sure that was something she wanted to say, some words of wisdom, some joke. Something. His close proximity, though, was making her brain fuzzy and her stomach so light she was sure she could feel it in her throat. There was natural progression to their closeness, to their noses brushing against each other, to being so very near, that they could almost not see the other properly, could not focus on the other's face completely.

So, Lois kissed him.

She leaned forward, vanishing the inch still separating them, and allowed her lips to mold against Clark's soft, pouty lips. Her eyes closed of their own volition and the rest was a myriad of feelings and sensations as they connected like that. Innocently. Passionately. Perfectly.

When they parted, it wasn't to lean away. In fact, they barely parted at all. "Wow..."

Clark gulped. "Lois?"

"Hum?"

It was his turn to cross the distance and claim her lips. This kiss, however, was more firm, more sure. His hand came up to circle her back and her hand drew up to his shirt, fisting it with her trembling fingers. A deep breath and their mouths were open. Tentatively, his tongue sought entrance to new territory. Quickly, her own responded, stroking his.

There was no tearing off clothes, or kisses so frantic, one would be hard pressed to breathe. No. It was long and deep and slow, exploring the other and letting yourself be explored. There were no fireworks or the earth moving. They could barely feel the air around them, much less the rest of the world. They were each other's only world, only gravity, only purpose.

xxxxx

Chloe opened the door to the farm and walked inside, knowing no one would be in the ground floor. She heard Lana coming in behind her and closing the door. Her feet was just about to lead her to the stairs, when footsteps started echoing in the room. Soon, Lois and Clark appeared, clearly having heard them coming in. Chloe paused to examine Lois from head to toe, trying to assure her own heart that her cousin was okay, that her cousin was there, in one piece.

"Lo?" The taller woman smiled openly.

"Chloe!" And then they found themselves wrapped in an embrace.

"You're okay! I mean, you _are_ okay, right?" Chloe asked, a brief shadow overtaking her features.

"Yes, I'm fine. Already been scanned by Smallville's super eyes and put up to date".

So Chloe and Lois and Clark and even Lana sat all together and updated each other with what they knew, specially about Rokk and the supposed tests. Chloe was most relieved to hear Lois was apparently _not_ supposed to die and Lana was frowning deeply, sure Lex was the culprit of the kidnapping of Lois, by the end of it.

"What now?" Lois asked, turning to face Clark, who sat beside her.

He merely shrugged. "I don't know".

And just like that, as if it had been again summoned, the crystal appeared on the table before them, soft blue glowing drawing their immediate attention. Clark's first reaction was to grasp Lois' wrist.

"Please, don't touch it".

Lois only reacted when he spoke, rolling her eyes. She made no move to reach for the object, though. Chloe, however, had no such qualms and quickly picked up the crystal. It remained unchanging.

"Should we - I don't know -, question it, like we did before, Lo?" Chloe was staring and frowning at the glowing rock.

"Maybe... We could try".

It seemed that the question was enough to prompt the crystal into action. A dark smoke swirled around them and it didn't take much to realize that it was only a projection, as they could see it, but not feel it. They all rose from their sitting positions. The smoke cleared a little, but it was hard to actually see anything. And then they heard it. The loud, guttural cry of a desperate man. Lois stepped back, colliding onto Clark's back; he circled her waist with his strong arms and held her close. Lana's eyes widened and she glanced from side to side, trying to see something beyond the smoke. Chloe merely continued to frown and stare at the crystal, willing it to give them some answers.

The cry was then reduced to sobbing and muttered words they could not understand. And in the space between the group of four confused people, the smoke cleared and what they saw made them all gasp. Clark, in the same blue uniform they had seen him in before, was sitting on the floor, dust and debris on him, blood dripping from cuts on his arms and legs and face. His arms were closed protectively around the broken, bleeding form of a woman, whose face they could not see. He was crying and it seemed sure that the woman was no more. When the desperate man wiped his tear, dust filled cheek and brushed the hair out of the woman's face, they all gasped once more.

For it was Lois, pale and dead in his arms.

The real Clark tightened his arms on Lois and she felt him trembling against her. Chloe had a look of horror on her face, head shaking in disbelief. It was only Lana who bore an expression of cool detachment. It was also she who plucked the crystal from Chloe's hand and demanded answers.

"This wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this". She breathed in deeply. "Why did you active?"

The crystal seemed to respond, for the smoke cleared completely and the broken pair on the floor disappeared. In their place, they could see the Fortress of Solitude coming into focus.

Jor-El's voice boomed around them, coming from above, below and all sides at the same time. "It is not possible to go back in time without serious repercussions, Kal-El. This is a lesson you have already learned."

Next, they saw Clark, still wearing the torn uniform, bloodied and dirty. "You said this was not supposed to happen, father!", his anguished voice evoked tears in Lois's eyes. She made no effort to brush them away. "I don't want to go back in time!". He buried his face in his soot covered hands. "I just want to know what went wrong!", again he looked up, eyes dull with pain. "What point in time made this the only way the story ends?", he whispered finally, anger seemingly not enough to overcome the pain.

" Lois Lane was taken. And then she was returned."

"What does that mean... taken?"

"Lois Lane was taken out of the timeline. History was brought faster into the future and destiny delayed too long."

He rubbed his face and sighed. "What do I do now?"

"She must die", were Jor-El's matter of fact response. Clark's reaction, though, was explosive.

"She has already died! She is gone! What else do you want from me?!" His knees hit the snow covered ground.

"To live, Kal-El, she must die". Clark's fist came down and even though he was, now, nothing more than a projection, his spectators felt the earth moving below their feet all the same.

"Stop talking in riddles and sentences with hidden meaning! Stop talking about destiny and what is and is not supposed to happen! This is my life you are talking about! This is her life!", he bellowed.

Jor-El did not answer with words. Before his broken son, a crystal appeared, floating on air and glowing red, blue and gold. Clark stopped raging for a second and raised his face up, as if looking at his father's face. "I thought you said time travel is dangerous. You told me there was only one crystal!"

"You will not travel back in time, my son", Jor-El's ever calm and methodical voice spoke. "Time is already collapsing. This crystal will reestablish the balance so that the timeline is preserved."

The crystal in question was the same one now Lana held in her hands. It was the same crystal that had shown them so much and kept so much from them. The same which had been interfering with their lives. The one which was supposed to balance out time.

"And now?", the broken Clark asked, a glimmer of hope in his eyes, as they stared at the glowing object floating before him.

"Now, we are no more..."

* * *

_Some answers or only more questions... Let me know if I am creating a bigger picture, or if it's still all a jumble. Virtual cake to all who review! =D_


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **Today is my birthday and I thought, "it is a perfect day to post!" So I polished this chapter which has been sitting half finished on my computer for the past week and here it is. Hope you guys like it.

Review!

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**CHAPTER 15**

* * *

"_Now, we are no more..."_

The projection faded away and the crystal grew dull and heavy in Lana's hand. It took only a glance at it to see, that whatever it had contained before, it was now copiously absent.

"_Now we are no more_... The voice said 'we'", wondered Lois out loud, still within Clark's embrace and with eyes focused at nothing in particular. She blinked, breathed in deeply and finally turned to face the rest of her companions. "_We…_ as in everyone?"

Chloe was nodding even before opening her mouth. "The timeline was collapsing, Jor-El's said, so that means that you were not supposed to die, Lo, and you dying caused major upheaval in the time and space continuum". She paused and bit her lower lip.

"I think I saw what happened after that. The world was devastated. You must have disappeared, Clark, because I saw myself, armed and preparing to go into battle... And I was alone. None of you were with me", Chloe whispered, eyes shimmering with the beginnings of tears and locked onto Clark's.

"So the crystal came into the past and started 'fixing' things it deemed necessary fixing so that Clark was there when whatever caused the world to go through the apocalypse happened", Lana added, placing the dead crystal onto the coffee table. "I just wonder at what Jor-El said... You must die, so you can live".

"Well, I died, but not really, right?" Lois answered, her side bracing against Clark as her hand rested on his shoulder. "I died and you brought me back, Chlo. Something in this turn of events must have affected the way history evolved".

"But it still doesn't make any sense..." Lana said, frustration finally breaking through her cool, outside veneer. "Jor-El said that you were taken out of the timeline, Lois, and that is what resulted in all the problems and detours in time. Rokk said that too, right?", at Lois and Clark's nods, she carried on. "What could you dying possibly change to make sure you are not taken from the timeline in the future?"

"Doesn't matter...", Clark spoke up for the first time. "It was more than Lois dying. It was Chloe discovering her healing gift. It was Lois learning about me. It was Kara. It was Lex. It was so many people's lives affected, we can't even guess how".

"And my finger...", Lois whispered, a frown blooming on her forehead. All eyes quickly turned her way, curious at her words.

"You finger?" Clark asked, frowning as well. "Lo?"

Lois glanced around and realized the attention she had drawn as she contemplated the incident in the copy room. "I... It was at the beginning, when the visions first appeared. I had a paper cut that was a little deep and was bleeding, when I was engulfed in a vision of Clark saving a boy from an explosion. When I... When I came to again, the cut was gone. I just assumed it was a onetime thing, connected to the vision. But maybe..."

"... Maybe it wasn't", Lana finished, stepping backwards and out of the room. The other occupants watched her go into the kitchen and appear right afterwards with a knife. She had only the chance to take one step towards Lois, before Clark was pushing her behind his back and glowering at Lana.

"Absolutely not."

"Clark..." Lois didn't give Lana a chance to argue. She came out from behind him and leaned against his side. "It's ok. I'll just be a little cut. Just a little test". Both shuddered at the thought of the last word and Lex's possible tests done to Lois while she had been gone. "We need to know".

The only man in the room looked less than happy with it, but he made no move to interfere as Lois left his side and offered her hand to Lana. The shorter brunette was quick to act and soon a cut on Lois' skin began to bleed.

They all leaned in, watching carefully, with eyes transfixed to the wound. And sure enough, the cut was gone by the time Lois rubbed her thumb against the hurt fskin, smearing a bit of blood with it.

"Shit", Lois whispered, as she turned to face Clark. "You don't think Lex saw something like this, right?". There was panic in her voice and this same panic was reflected in the eyes of every single person in the room. Never mind that healing yourself was an extraordinary act and most likely the result of some form of kryptonite infection. They had all seen and experienced the extraordinary before. But Lex... Lex Luthor was a danger of another category and enough to put worries about infections and mutations in the back of their minds.

"But, why would he have you returned home if he discovered something like this?", Chloe questioned, eyebrows upturned in a worried, yet hopeful expression. "Right?"

"I don't know, Chloe. I don't think so", Lana answered, eyes still on Lois. She was suddenly watching the pair before her with narrowed eyes.

"We have to know for sure. If he does know, Lois could be in danger", Clark whispered, once more bring Lois closer to him and into his arms.

Chloe joined Lana in her scrutiny.

"How?" It was Lois's turn to speak. "How do we make sure?"

"I'll do it". Lana's voice was decisive, almost as if she had expected an objection. None came. With a sigh, she left the room, pausing only long enough to grab her purse and car keys out of the kitchen counter. "Chloe, will you be okay here?"

Her blonde friend nodded and with a swoosh of hair and a closing door, Lana was gone.

"Is it wise, letting her go alone?", Lois asked. "I mean, Lex can be dangerous..."

"Lana has a way in, so to speak". Chloe dismissed the concern of her cousin and turned fully to face the pair. "Now. How about telling me when _this_", she circled a finger in the air in their general direction "started."

xxxxxxx

Lana was angry and hurt and panicked.

Of course she had known it was going to happen. The crystal had shown it to her and she had believed it. Lois was Clark's future. It was too soon, though. She had come to accept Clark would be _hers_ in the long run. Lois would be his companion, his wife, his anchor. She had come to accept, also, that the dreams she had envisioned for herself and Clark weren't going to happen. There would be no great future, saving the world together and being equals. But acceptance is not the same as knowledge.

She had known, but she hadn't really grasped it as real until she had seen the way Clark had pulled Lois into his embrace. He had held her as if he had been frightened she would simply disappear.

A tear escaped from the corner of her eye.

It seemed too soon. Her heart wasn't ready yet to let go.

Would this new development in their relationship change the future too? Were the visions the crystal had shown her the future that was no more or the future being newly recreated? And why, she wondered, had the crystal shown her those things at all?

There were more questions than answers rolling around in her mind and Lana was slowly coming to realize that the crystal may have turned dull and silent, but the story was far from over.

xxxxxx

Lex had grown accustomed to being disappointed. Hadn't all his dreams and aspirations somehow failed? Especially when Clark Kent was involved.

"Sir, will there be further monitoring of the Lane girl?"

The man contemplated a moment, then shrugged. Lois Lane had been another disappointment. The annoying woman was nothing more than a nuisance. An overworked, anemic trouble-maker. He had taken exception to her comments about Clark and probably blown her behavior at the Planet out of proportion.

"No".

The black clad man offered a curt nod and welded himself back to the shadows, while Lex swirled the amber liquid in his crystal glass and sighed.

Lois had been a waste of time, but Lex hadn't lost sight of his real target, and he was sure that his ultimate goal would not turn out to be a disappointment. It was only a matter of time now, he was sure. The clock was ticking and soon he would have all the answers he had always craved. All the truths he had always deserved.

xxxxxx

Chloe was back at the Daily Planet, running after lost time and trying desperately to make a dent on the rising pile of things she still need to do and complete. The fact that a similar pile stood on Lois' desk offered little comfort. Lois wasn't there, after all. No, Lois was back on the farm, wrapped in Clark Kent's arms and playing hooky.

A part of Chloe resented that.

Another part of her, however, had gone through a big revelation. It had taken her insight into Lana's mistakes for the cub reporter to realize her own shortcomings and failed dreams and all the regret and bitterness she had been carrying around with her for the last couple of years.

_Journalism._

_Clark._

_Even Jimmy._

And what for, she now wondered. What for?

Dreams she no longer wanted. Aspirations she had come to realize were not hers any more. Love that had always remained unrequited. Like Lana, Chloe had stuck with what she had always know herself to have yearned for and had not paid enough attention to the future she had grown to want as an adult.

Chloe put the pen down and stared hard at her computer screen. Routine had become her worst enemy. She had been used to journalism. She had been used to silently loving Clark. She had been used to stealing moments to do what she really loved doing... Helping the heroes of Metropolis.

Palms facing up, lower lip between her teeth, Chloe surveyed her messy desk and remembered Lois' deep blush and Clark's silly grin earlier in the day, when she had inquired about their possible status as a couple. She remembered thinking about the way they used to be, back at the beginning and how very unlikely it would have seemed then, to imagine them together.

How things change. How people change.

A smile was slowly, but surely blossoming in her face. So many moments had been monumental in deciding her future in the past and this one realization seemed too simple, too anticlimactic in comparison. Still, Chloe could feel it, the pieces of the puzzle coming together to form a bigger picture in her mind. This, right here, would be a moment she would always remember. The day she let go of the dreams of a little girl and embraced the dreams of a grown woman who could see the world laid out before her, ready to welcome her back in.

Chloe felt the determination take root and held on tightly to the image of Clark holding Lois close as a beacon to the future that had finally arrived.

And it was going to be wonderful!

xxxxxxxxxxx

The corn on the fields danced slowly to the rhythm of the wind, as it reflected the rising sun into the clear blue sky. All was quiet... all was still. The world was breathing in silence, waiting for the day to begin.

Lois felt a tickle on her nose and fluttered her eyes open to catch the splendor of sunrise outside the window of Clark's childhood bedroom. She smiled and yawned and lightly stretched, feeling rested in a way she hadn't in quite a while and utterly content. Turning around, she came face to face with a fully clothed Clark, eyes closed, mouth slightly parted and hair sticking in all directions. She could no more stop the smile from widening, than she could stop the sun from rising.

There was no awkwardness, no insecurity. There was just them, together, sharing the narrow bed. She traced a loose strand of black hair away from his face and kissed his forehead. None of the fears or flight impulses she had come to expect when face to face with serious relationships were present and that in itself was scary.

_Was this it?_

_The beginning of forever?_

Her kiss seemed to have been enough to wake him up, for he stirred, grinned and stretched his arms towards her, catching her body in an embrace. One of his hands drew a path from her cheek, to her hair, down her shoulder and around her waist. At that moment, she felt grateful for a being slightly short sighted and able to catch every detail of the green streaks of his eyes with her gaze.

"Clark?"

"Yes?", he whispered in return, hand still exploring the skin her pajamas couldn't cover with light fingers. Goosebumps had long since established themselves everywhere.

"Do you believe in destiny?", she asked against his lips, barely touching, though they were already breathing the same air.

"I didn't want to."

"And now?". She frowned briefly. "Do you believe?"

"Having you here, after everything… Feeling like I feel...I believe this is meant to be."

Lois closed the distance and kissed him. It started off as small and contained, but it grew to great proportions. Soon, they were clinging to each other.

"As much as I would love to stay here forever, Smallville", she said as she drew away and opened her eyes again to take him in. "I have to get to work before they give up on me and allow stupid Jake to take over my desk".

He laughed and held onto her tighter still.

After playful banter and tickles, they finally moved to get up, to work and to rejoin the world they had shut out the previous day. Clark is already on his feet, when he takes notice of Lois small whimper.

"Lois? What's wrong?"

She is half sitting on the bed and her face is sporting a grimace.

"I don't... I don't know." She looked up at him, feeling scared and tried to rise again. Her legs wouldn't cooperate, though, and her arms felt weak. When she insisted on making them work, her muscles started to tremble and she fell back on the bed, suddenly breathless.

"Lois!" Clark was at her side at once, hands skimming limbs and head, searching for a reason that would explain her condition. Her eyes were closed and her breathing shallow. Gently, he shook her shoulder "Lois, talk to me... what is going on? What are you feeling? Should I take to the hospital?"

"No... no hospital. I just... I feel so weak all of a sudden", she told him, trying to mask her own worries so as not to cause any more panic.


End file.
